Journal article
Is English consequence compact?
- Abstract:
- By mimicking the standard definition for a formal language, we define what it is for a natural language to be compact. We set out a valid English argument none of whose finite subarguments is valid. We consider one by one objections to the argument's logical validity and then dismiss them. The conclusion is that English—and any other language with the capacity to express the argument—is not compact. This rules out a large class of logics as the correct foundational one, for example any sound and complete logic, and in particular first-order logic. The correct foundational logic is not compact.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Version of record, 1.2MB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1002/tht3.492
Authors
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Journal:
- Thought: A Journal of Philosophy More from this journal
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 3
- Pages:
- 188-198
- Publication date:
- 2021-06-02
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-02-15
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
2161-2234
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
1170854
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1170854
- Deposit date:
-
2021-04-08
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Paseau and Griffiths
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- © 2021 The Authors. Thought: A Journal of Philosophy published by The Thought Trust and Wiley Periodicals, LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record