Jc Beall is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut (Storrs, USA), where he is also the founder of the interdisciplinary UCONN Logic Group (logic.uconn.edu), and Research Professor in Philosophy at the University of Tasmania (Australia). Beall has published numerous books and articles on philosophy and logic, with particular focus on the philosophies of truth, paradox, and logic. Among his books are Logical Pluralism and Spandrels of Truth , and his textbooks include Logic: The Basics and Possibilities and Paradox .

More information: http://entailments.net.

 

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Lecture:

What Is Logic? Why Is It So Weak? 

True theories, we are told, are bound by logic. This much, Beall believes, is correct: No theory is even possibly true if it goes against logic. With all due respect to Mark Twain, truth — and perhaps even fiction — must stick to logical possibilities. But this raises a question: What, then, is logic? How can logic constrain all of the vast and varied possibilities? The answer, Beall claims, is that logic is very weak; it is incredibly liberal with respect to what it counts as possible. This is good news and bad news. The good side: Logic provides few obstacles in our search for truth. The bad side: Logic provides us little help in our search for truth. In this talk, Beall will fill out these ideas, explaining how we should conceive of logic and its role in our truth-driven theorizing (from mathematics to science to metaphysics and beyond).

Time: 8:00 pm
Location: Ukrainian Institute of America / Concert Hall

 

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