Logical systems

Logic is often studied by constructing what are commonly called logical systems. A logical system is essentially a way of mechanically listing all the logical truths of some part of logic by means of the application of recursive rules—i.e., rules that can be repeatedly applied to their own output. This is done by identifying by purely formal criteria certain axioms and certain purely formal rules of inference from which theorems can be derived from axioms together with earlier theorems. All of the axioms must be logical truths, and the rules of inference must preserve logical truth. If these requirements are satisfied, it follows that all the theorems in the system are logically true. If all the truths of the relevant part of logic can be captured in this way, the system is said to be “complete” in one sense of this ambiguous term.

The systematic study of formal derivations of logical truths from the axioms of a formal system is known as proof theory. It is one of the main areas of systematic logical theory.

Not all parts of logic are completely axiomatizable. Second-order logic, for example, is not axiomatizable on its most natural interpretation. Likewise, independence-friendly first-order logic is not completely axiomatizable. Hence the study of logic cannot be restricted to the axiomatization of different logical systems. One must also consider their semantics, or the relations between sentences in the logical system and the structures (usually referred to as “models”) in which the sentences are true.

Logical systems that are incomplete in the sense of not being axiomatizable can nevertheless be formulated and studied in ways other than by mechanically listing all their logical truths. The notions of logical truth and validity can be defined model-theoretically (i.e., semantically) and studied systematically on the basis of such definitions without referring to any logical system or to any rules of inference. Such studies belong to model theory, which is another main branch of contemporary logic.

Model theory involves a notion of completeness and incompleteness that differs from axiomatizability. A system that is incomplete in the latter sense can nevertheless be complete in the sense that all the relevant logical truths are valid model-theoretical consequences of the system. This kind of completeness, known as descriptive completeness, is also sometimes (confusingly) called axiomatizability, despite the more common use of this term to refer to the mechanical generation of theorems from axioms and rules of inference.

Definitory and strategic inference rules

There is a further reason why the formulation of systems of rules of inference does not exhaust the science of logic. Rule-governed, goal-directed activities are often best understood by means of concepts borrowed from the study of games. The “game” of logic is no exception. For example, one of the most fundamental ideas of game theory is the distinction between the definitory rules of a game and its strategic rules. Definitory rules define what is and what is not admissible in a game—for example, how chessmen may be moved on a board, what counts as checking and mating, and so on. But knowledge of the definitory rules of a game does not constitute knowledge of how to play the game. For that purpose, one must also have some grasp of the strategic rules, which tell one how to play the game well—for example, which moves are likely to be better or worse than their alternatives.

In logic, rules of inference are definitory of the “game” of inference. They are merely permissive. That is, given a set of premises, the rules of inference indicate which conclusions one is permitted to draw, but they do not indicate which of the permitted conclusions one should (or should not) draw. Hence, any exhaustive study of logic—indeed, any useful study of logic—should include a discussion of strategic principles of inference. Unfortunately, few, if any, textbooks deal with this aspect of logic. The strategic principles of logic do not have to be merely heuristic “rules-of-thumb.” In principle, they can be formulated as strictly as are definitory rules. In most nontrivial cases, however, the strategic rules cannot be mechanically (recursively) applied.

Rules of ampliative reasoning

In a broad sense of both “logic” and “inference,” any rule-governed move from a number of propositions to a new one in reasoning can be considered a logical inference, if it is calculated to further one’s knowledge of a given topic. The rules that license such inferences need not be truth-preserving, but many will be ampliative, in the sense that they lead (or are likely to lead) eventually to new or useful information.

There are many kinds of ampliative reasoning. Inductive logic offers familiar examples. Thus a rule of inductive logic might tell one what inferences may be drawn from observed relative frequencies concerning the next observed individual. In some cases, the truth of the premises will make the conclusion probable, though not necessarily true. In other cases, although there is no guarantee that the conclusion is probable, application of the rule will lead to true conclusions in the long run if it is applied in accordance with a good reasoning strategy. Such a rule, for example, might lead from the presupposition of a question to its answer, or it might allow one to make an “educated guess” based on suitable premises.

The American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) introduced the notion of “abduction,” which involves elements of questioning and guessing but which Peirce insisted was a kind of inference. It can be shown that there is in fact a close connection between optimal strategies of ampliative reasoning and optimal strategies of deductive reasoning. For example, the choice of the best question to ask in a given situation is closely related to the choice of the best deductive inference to draw in that situation. This connection throws important light on the nature of logic. At first sight, it might seem odd to include the study of ampliative reasoning in the theory of logic. Such reasoning might seem to be part of the subject of epistemology rather than of logic. In so far as definitory rules are concerned, ampliative reasoning does in fact differ radically from deductive reasoning. But since the study of the strategies of ampliative reasoning overlaps with the study of the strategies of deductive reasoning, there is a good reason to include both in the theory of logic in a wide sense.

Some recently developed logical theories can be thought of as attempts to make the definitory rules of a logical system imitate the strategic rules of ampliative inference. Cases in point include paraconsistent logics, nonmonotonic logics, default reasoning, and reasoning by circumscription, among other examples.Most of these logics have been used in computer science, especially in studies of artificial intelligence. Further research will be needed to determine whether they have much application in general logical theory or epistemology.

The distinction between definitory and strategic rules can be extended from deductive logic to logic in the wide sense. Often it is not clear whether the rules governing certain types of inference in the wide sense should be construed as definitory rules for step-by-step inferences or as strategic rules for longer sequences of inferences. Furthermore, since both strategic rules and definitory rules can in principle be explicitly formulated for both deductive and ampliative inference, it is possible to compare strategic rules of deduction with different types of ampliative inference.