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Logical Absolutes
#1
Logical Absolutes
Now that Arcanus is back, I can start a discussion on something I'd been meaning to ask him for quite a while; namely the existence of logical absolutes.

The three laws of logic forming the logical absolutes are:

1) Law of Identity: Something is what it is and isn't what it is not. (A = A)
2) Law of Non-Contradiction: Something cannot be both true and false at the same time in the same sense. ¬(A ^ ¬A)
3) Law of Excluded Middle: A statement is either true or false, without a middle ground. (P v ¬P)

The argument for these logical absolutes is that they all validate each other, and that without one, logic falls apart. Also, that if one of them is not true, you get logical contradictions. The example I'm used to is that if the Law of Non-Contradiction is false, then something can be both true and false at the same time and in the same sense, which means that the Law of Non-Contradiction is true (as well as false). But if the law of Non-Contradiction is true, then something cannot be both true and false at the same time, and so the law of Non-Contradiction cannot be both true and false at the same time, and so it must be true.

There are objections to this argument; namely that it uses the laws of logic in order to show that the laws of logic are valid and absolute.

So this thread is basically a discussion of the laws of logic, whether they are absolute, and whether they can be proved absolute. I haven't done much research on this area, but I've always found it intriguing, and Arcanus probably knows more about it that I do.
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#2
RE: Logical Absolutes
First, the laws of logic are not subject to a proof, by virtue of their being self-evident axioms; what that means is, their justification is instrinsic (they justify themselves), not extrinsic (something else justifies them). Second, that is also why they are absolute, or true in all places for all circumstances at all times; as you recognized, any arguments against the laws of logic cannot but use them.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
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#3
RE: Logical Absolutes
Truth. And a super-necro compounded by me.

[Image: 8mBnWdp.png]

Ryft and I disagreed on an awful lot but at least he understood this Big Grin
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#4
RE: Logical Absolutes
Panic
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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#5
RE: Logical Absolutes
This is probably the worst necropost ever lol.
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#6
RE: Logical Absolutes
The only logical absolute is that there are no logical absolutes.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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#7
RE: Logical Absolutes
lol!!!
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#8
RE: Logical Absolutes
(November 19, 2016 at 8:33 pm)Tiberius Wrote: This is probably the worst necropost ever lol.

Yay! I have a record. Shall we quote it in the hall of shame too?
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#9
RE: Logical Absolutes
(November 19, 2016 at 8:44 pm)Faith No More Wrote: The only logical absolute is that there are no logical absolutes.

That's self-evidently absolutely incorrect Tongue
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#10
RE: Logical Absolutes
Time to put this thread back to bed for another eighty months. I look forward to its next resurrection.

Mark your calendar, Hammy.
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