Title :

Existence, Meaning and the Law of Excluded Middle. A dialogical approach to Hermann Weyl’s philosophical considerations

Author(s) :

McConaughey, Zoe [Auteur]
Savoirs, Textes, Langage (STL) - UMR 8163 [STL]
Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal [UQAM]
Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie [CIRST]

Journal title :

Klesis - Revue philosophique
"Le tiers exclu" à travers les âges

Publisher :

Klesis

Publication date :

2020

ISSN :

1954-3050

HAL domain(s) :

Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Philosophie

English abstract : [en]

Intuitionistic logic is often presented as a proof-based approach to logic, where truth is defined as having a proof. I shall stress another dimension which is also important: that of the constitution of meaning. This ...
Show more >Intuitionistic logic is often presented as a proof-based approach to logic, where truth is defined as having a proof. I shall stress another dimension which is also important: that of the constitution of meaning. This dimension of meaning does not reduce to proof, be it actual or potential, as standard presentations of intuitionistic logic put it. The law of excluded middle sits right at the junction between these two dimensions, proof and meaning: in intuitionistic logic, there is no proof for the law of excluded middle, but the law of excluded middle is a proposition that does have meaning. It is thus a problematic case. Better understanding how these two levels, meaning and proof, dissociate and interact is the purpose of this paper. I contend that the dialogical framework, a logical framework developing first and foremost intuitionistic logic (though it can also accommodate classical logic), allows to separate these two levels, meaning and proof, and show how the level of proofs rests on the level of meaning. In this respect, the law of excluded middle becomes a meaning-constitutive principle, even if it is neither proved nor refuted. The dialogical framework can thus integrate the philosophical considerations of Hermann Weyl's "intuitionistic episode" of the 1920s, which, I contend, already present a similar distinction between the level of meaning and the level of existence.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Peer reviewed article :

Oui

Audience :

Internationale

Popular science :

Non

Collections :

• Savoirs, Textes, Langage (STL) - UMR 8163

Source :

Harvested from HAL