Purism: The Inconceivability of Inconsistency within Space as the Basis of Logic

Dialogue 62 (1):1-24 (2019)
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Abstract

I propose that an irreducible property of physical space — consistency — is the origin of logic. I propose that an inconsistent space is inconceivable and that this inconceivability can be recognized as the force behind logical propositions. The implications of this argument are briefly explored and then applied to address two paradoxes: Zeno of Elea’s paradox regarding the race between Achilles and the Tortoise, and Lewis Carroll’s paradox regarding the Tortoise’s conversation with Achilles after the race. I conclude that Achilles would have won on both accounts, in the race and the argument, by invoking the consistency of space as the foundation of both movement across space and logical argument.

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Citations of this work

Purism: Logic as the Basis of Morality.* Primus - 2021 - Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism 29:1-36.
Purism: Desire as the Ultimate Value, Part Two An Appeal to Intuition. Primus - 2023 - Philosophical Papers and Review 11 (2):15-34.

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References found in this work

The logical basis of metaphysics.Michael Dummett - 1991 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
A System of Logic.John Stuart Mill - 1829/2002 - Longman.
Tractatus logico-philosophicus.Ludwig Wittgenstein - 1922 - Filosoficky Casopis 52:336-341.
Wittgenstein on rules and private language.Saul Kripke - 1982 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 173 (4):496-499.

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