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    Frege and Carnap on the normativity of logic

    Steinberger, Florian (2017) Frege and Carnap on the normativity of logic. Synthese 194 (1), pp. 143-162. ISSN 0039-7857.

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    Abstract

    In this paper I examine the question of logic’s normative status in the light of Carnap’s Principle of Tolerance. I begin by contrasting Carnap’s conception of the normativity of logic with that of his teacher, Frege. I identify two core features of Frege’s position: first, the normative force of the logical laws is grounded in their descriptive adequacy; second, norms implied by logic are constitutive for thinking as such (in a sense to be clarified). While Carnap breaks with Frege’s absolutism about logic and hence with the notion that any system of logic should have a privileged claim to correctness, I argue that there is a sense in which Carnap’s framework- relative conception of logical norms has a constitutive role to play: though they are not constitutive for the conceptual activity for thinking, they do nevertheless set the ground rules that make certain forms of scientific inquiry possible in the first place. I conclude that Carnap’s principle of tolerance is tamer than one might have thought and that, despite remaining differences, Frege’s and Carnap’s conceptions of logic have more in common than one might have thought.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: The final publication is available at Springer via the link above.
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Rudolf Carnap, Gottlob Frege, Normativity of logic, Rationality, Normativism about the mental
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Depositing User: Florian Steinberger
    Date Deposited: 27 Jan 2017 09:52
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:30
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/17701

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