Alfred Sidgwick

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfred Sidgwick (* 1850 in Skipton ; † December 22, 1943 in Trewoofe Orchard ) was an English logician and philosopher.

Sidgwick studied at Lincoln College , Oxford . He became known for his analysis of false conclusions . Its logic is a theory of reasoning. He opposes formal logic and emphasized the practical benefit that studying logic must have. In addition to some of his own books, he mainly published in the philosophical journal Mind .

Subject of logic

For Sidgwick, logic is a science of distinguishing good from bad arguments, with these arguments playing a role both in the communication of several people and in the analysis of the thinking of an individual.

Ambiguity of words

Sidwick's 1892 book Distinction and Criticism of Beliefs is about the ambiguity of words. He points out that the problem is not that the words have multiple meanings, but that the various meanings get mixed up in practice. He advocates looking at the vagueness of the meaning rather than the number of different meanings, since the problems arise where the different meanings mean almost the same thing. In addition to the question of which errors arise from the ambiguity, Sidgwick is also interested in the question of which excuses we use when problems arise due to the ambiguity.

Fonts

  • Fallacies. A View of Logic from the Practical Side. 1883; 2nd edition: London 1890
  • Distinction and Criticism of Beliefs. Longmans, Green & Co., London 1892
  • The Process of Argument: A Contribution to Logic. 1893
  • The Use of Words in Reasoning. 1901
  • The Application of Logic. Macmillan, London 1910
  • Elementary Logic. 1914

Article (selection)

  • Notes on Reform in Logic. In: Min . (NS) 2, 1893, pp. 145-159

literature

  • Henry Sturt : Alfred Sidgwick, 1850-1943. In: Min . 53, 1944, p. 379 f.
  • Peter Radcliff: Alfred Sidgwick on Meaning. In: Journal of the History of Philosophy. 4/3, 1966, pp. 225-234
  • Flemming Steen Nielsen: Alfred Sidgwicks argumentationsteori. Flemming Stee Nielsen & Museum Tusculanums Forlag, 1997 (Danish)

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Alfred Sidgwick: The Application of Logic. Macmillan, London 1910, p. 3 ff.
  2. ^ Alfred Sidgwick: Distinction and Criticism of Beliefs. Longmans, Green & Co., London 1892, p. 3 f.
  3. ^ Alfred Sidgwick: Distinction and Criticism of Beliefs. Longmans, Green & Co., London 1892, p. 4 f.
  4. ^ Alfred Sidgwick: Distinction and Criticism of Beliefs. Longmans, Green & Co., London 1892, p. 9
personal data
SURNAME Sidgwick, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English logician and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Skipton
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1943
Place of death Trewoofe Orchard