The Jurisdiction of Logic by Dr. Paul Simard Smith

The Philosophy and Classics Department and Campion College invite you to a public lecture by Dr. Paul Simard Smith. “The Jurisdiction of Logic ” A widely held view in the philosophy of logic is that the laws of logic are topic neutral. According to this view in any discussion whether the topic of the discussion is arithmetic, literary criticism, moral obligations to ecosystems, or baseball deductive reasoning in those discussions is valid if, and only if, that reasoning accords with the laws of logic. Recently several philosophers have contended that the endorsement of pluralism about truth provides grounds to endorse an alternative to the topic neutral view about the laws of logic. This alternative view holds that in different subject matters distinct logics can govern deductive reasoning in those subject matters. In this talk I set out to support an even more radical claim: the endorsement of truth pluralism not only provides reason to think that logics can change with changes in the subject matter, but it also provides reason to think that logics can change with changes in the context from which an inference is evaluated. Everyone is welcome to attend!

More information at: http://www.uregina.ca/events/the-jurisdiction-of-logic