Subject: Re: Logic deemed illogical! Area man protests.
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Date: Sat Jan 08 2000 - 09:59:12 EST
In a message dated 1/8/00 1:15:59 AM Eastern Standard Time,
seandr@Exchange.Microsoft.com writes:
<< I must disagree! Logic is a property of the universe that humans have
discovered, not constructed. That would certainly make logic 'universal',
although I'm not sure about 'inevitable'. Whether or not logic is
'self-evident' is irrelevant. Self-sufficient? I'm not sure, but when
applied correctly, logic will allow you to draw conclusions that follow from
a set of assumptions.
Consider that cornerstone of formal logic, the principle of transitivity: if
a > b and b > c, well then a > c. I maintain that transitivity holds for all
quantities a, b, and c. It holds regardless whether it has us as an
audience. It holds even when we tell it not to hold. Against all odds, it
holds!
-Sean >>
Yep, that's the classical view. And it's an open door to the supernatural --
the people who first propogated this view recognized this.
Now, my question is, if logic (what you're describing is formal logic) is so
much a part of nature (and, as a result, a part of our minds), how come only
one culture on earth really discovered it? You don't see formal logic in the
Australian Bushmen or any of the African tribes. You don't really see it
developed very much in the more advanced older cultures, even though they had
started making advances in mathematics and astronomy (of their own kind).
In short, if it's so natural, why is it so unusual to discover? There's not
nearly as much testimony to the development of formal logic in human history
as there is to religious consciousness.
Jim
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