Abstract

Whatever else it may be, philosophy is an attempt to grasp the basic and universal features of reality, of the world, of possible experience. The deductive validity of some arguments as against others is a pervasive and stable characteristic of reality, a basic condition of possible experience. Thus deductive logic belongs to philosophy, as indeed does mathematics. The relation of logic to philosophy is accordingly at least part-whole. Nor is it a detachable part, for the validity of arguments is central to philosophy both as process and as product. Finally, the “philosophy of logic” feeds directly into ontology. It reveals some of the most basic things there are. In this sense logic qualifies as first philosophy.