The project of logic as a theoretical tool useful for the sciences and humanities involves, as a crucial step, logical formalization – the conversion of sentences of natural language to formulas of a formal language. But what do we do, exactly, when we do logical formalization? What are the criteria of adequacy of the conversion? In how far is logic normative? The paper offers answers to these central (but surprisingly rather neglected) questions and shows that getting a proper grasp on the process of formalization is important for understanding the nature of logic. The key point is that logic as a theoretical tool manages to consolidate our linguistic – in particular argumentative – practices by means of attaining a specific sort of reflective equilibrium. The paper provides a detailed discussion of the answers to the above questions implied by this understanding of logic.
Logique et Analyse is an international, peer-reviewed journal that publishes research in logic, philosophy of logic and/or mathematics, argumentation-theory, and analytical philosophy, broadly conceived. Logique et Analyse appears on a quarterly basis, and publishes thematic issues as well as contributed papers. We welcome submission of papers in English, French, German or Dutch, with an approximate length of 15 to 20 pages. Occasionally, longer pieces of exceptional significance are considered as well.
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