Logic, Reasoning, and Revision

Published in Theoria, 82(1): 3-31.

This is a descendant of the conference presentation with the same title.

Abstract The traditional connection between logic and reasoning has been under pressure ever since Gilbert Harman attacked the received view that logic yields norms for what we should believe. In this paper I first place Harman’s challenge in the broader context of the dialectic between logical revisionists like Bob Meyer and sceptics about the role of logic in reasoning like Harman. I then develop a formal model based on contemporary epistemic and doxastic logic in which the relation between logic and norms for belief can be captured.

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doi:10.1111/theo.12071