Review of Symbolic Logic 12 (3):589-606 (2019)
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This article examines two syllogistic arguments contrasted in an ancient Chinese book, the Mozi, which expounds doctrines of the Mohist school of philosophers. While the arguments seem to have the same form, one of them is valid but the other is not. To explain this difference, the article uses English plural constructions to formulate the arguments. Then it shows that the one-horse argument is valid because it has a valid argument form, the plural cousin of a standard form of valid categorical syllogisms, and argues that the two-horse argument involves equivocal uses of a key predicate that has the distributive/nondistributive ambiguity. In doing so, the article discusses linguistic differences between Chinese and English and explains why the logic of plural constructions is applicable to Chinese arguments that involve no plural constructions.
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DOI | 10.1017/s1755020317000302 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Logic and Meaning of Plurals. Part I.Byeong-Uk Yi - 2005 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 34 (5-6):459-506.
Introduction to mathematical logic.Alonso Church - 1958 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 63 (1):118-118.
The Logic and Meaning of Plurals. Part II.Byeong-uk Yi - 2006 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 35 (3):239-288.
View all 17 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Categorical Propositions and Existential Import: A Post-Modern Perspective.Byeong-Uk Yi - 2021 - History and Philosophy of Logic 42 (4):307-373.
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