Expressive Role of Logic

Brandom’s account of what logical vocabulary is for: not to extend our inferential powers but to make explicit, as assertible claims, the material inferential commitments that are otherwise only implicit in practice. The conditional lets one say “if p then q” what one previously only did in treating p as a reason for q. Logic is thus expressive rather than foundational — the organ by which a Discursive Practice becomes self-conscious.

In this vault

• Articulating Reasons - Brandom
• Making It Explicit - Brandom
• Inferentialism