From Natural to Formal Language: A Case for Logical Pluralism

Abstract

I argue for a version of logical pluralism based on the plurality of legitimate formalizations of the logical vocabulary. In particular, I argue that the apparent rivalry between classical and relevant logic can be resolved, given that both logics capture and formalize normative and legitimate senses of logical consequence: classical logic encodes “follows from” as truth preservation and captures the truth conditions of the logical constants, while relevant logic encodes a notion of “follows from” which, apart from preserving truth, avoids the violation of certain Gricean maxims and captures a different inferential role for the same logical constants, enriching their meaning pragmatically.