Argumentation and formal logic in philosophy

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 669 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0920-427X
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00116414

✦ Synopsis

Philosophers do not usually regard their arguments as informal. Yet despite the a priori appearance of many philosophical arguments, it is dangerous to formalize them. Formalization shifts the issue from what the argument attempts to establish or refute to its premises. I illustrate this danger in terms of a formalization by Ian McGreal of Berkeley's argument to the conclusion that to be is to be perceived and in terms of Aristotle's treatment of an argument of Parmenides. I then account for the a priori character of philosophical arguments in terms of their intertextual contexts. I conclude that philosophical arguments are in fact informal.