On Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 01:59:38PM -0400, Mills Davis wrote:
> ...
> Permit me to wax for a moment. I think the really interesting stuff of
> reasoning (e.g., questions where lives are on the line, questions of
> guilt or innocence, questions of ethics, questions about what is the
> best product design, or best course of action for a business,
> questions of public policy, or career choices) always involve more
> than logical consistency. They involve trade-offs and values. Often
> there is no "right" answer. Logic is just a tool. (01)
To all of which any logician would respond with a hearty "Amen". That
formal logic of itself cannot decide a single practical problem is
taught on Day One of an intro course. The logician's point is only that
ethical assumptions, values, concepts of guilt and innocence, judgments
about courses of action, public policy, and career choices have to be
*expressed* in logic if there is any hope of using them to solve
practical problems with the aid of computers. (02)
Chris Menzel (03)
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