Is There a Logic of the Ineffable? Or, How Is it Possible to Talk About the Unsayable?

Stephen Palmquist

    Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

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    Abstract

    This chapter defends a single, fixed, definite answer to the question: Is there a logic that governs the unsayable? The proposed answer is: “Yes, and no. Or yes-but-not-yes. And/or yes-no.” Each component of this answer is examined and used to generate three laws of what Palmquist terms “synthetic logic”, which correspond directly to the laws of classical (Aristotelian) logic: the law of contradiction (“A = −A”), the law of non-identity (“A ≠ A”), and the law of the included middle (“−(Av-A)”). Ultimately, Palmquist concludes by arguing that we can talk about the unsayable only by assuming that propositions constructed in accordance with these three alternative logical laws can be meaningful.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationContemporary Debates in Negative Theology and Philosophy
    EditorsNahum Brown, J. Aaron Simmons
    PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
    Pages71-80
    Number of pages10
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Electronic)9783319659008
    ISBN (Print)9783319658995, 9783319881270
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 25 Nov 2017

    Publication series

    NamePalgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion
    ISSN (Print)2634-6176
    ISSN (Electronic)2634-6184

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