Is formal logic useful in argumentation? The case for political usefulness
Abstract
Reception: November 28, 2016 Accepted: December 20, 2016 In this paper I will attempt to answer the question of whether formal logic is of any use to the human and precise activity of argumentation. In order to tackle the original question I undertake a more specific one: is formal logic useful for our political and juridical argumentations? My short answer is yes. I provide an example of a general analysis of justification of acts of authority that is both logically valid and novel as to how this task is correctly accomplished. An analysis of this sort is not correct politically, but rather logically and common-sensically. I propose a way to formally analyze political discourse, and then show how it can be used to improve our understanding of it, via an improvement of clarity and precision.References
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