Methodological Issues for the Logic of Questions and Commands

Abstract

There has been much recent interest in logics for questions and commands. The authors approve, but they argue that methodological issues must be addressed, before it is possible to understand what such logics are for and what they should be like. In particular, the authors deny that the formulas in such logics correspond directly to sentences in ordinary language. Logic is not linguistics. What then are the semantics for the formulas of logics of questions and commands? The focus here is mostly on questions. The authors argue that logics designed to capture the conditions for correct reasoning involving questions require a semantics that treats question-answer pairs as values. They also argue that formal dialogue approaches to the logic of questions should be interpreted in the light of the denial that logic is about language.

Proof and Dialogue in Aristotle

“…61 There are many matters still to address, matters for which there is no space in this paper. They include at least the following: the effectiveness of a dialogue approach to Aristotle's modal syllogism, the status of demonstration, the conversion of the A statement, the use of predication as the basis for a modern semantics, and the extent to which modern interpretations of Aristotle's logic should be able to use propositional logic tautologies as in rule I2 and their application in Dialogue R. 61 Girle and McKeown-Green (2012).…”

“…in British Enclassica Magic Mouse Multimedia, 1998. 37Girle and McKeown-Green (2012), July-September.…”