Formal Languages in Logic: A Philosophical and Cognitive Analysis

Formal languages are widely regarded as being above all mathematical objects and as producing a greater level of precision and technical complexity in logical investigations because of this. Yet defining formal languages exclusively in this way offers only a partial and limited explanation of the impact which their use (and the uses of formalisms more generally elsewhere) actually has. In this book, Catarina Dutilh Novaes adopts a much wider conception of formal languages so as to investigate more broadly what exactly is going on when theorists put these tools to use. She looks at the history and philosophy of formal languages and focuses on the cognitive impact of formal languages on human reasoning, drawing on their historical development, psychology, cognitive science and philosophy. Her wide-ranging study will be valuable for both students and researchers in philosophy, logic, psychology and cognitive and computer science.

Author: Catarina Dutilh Novaes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 11/06/2014
Pages: 284
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781107460317

About the Author
Dutilh Novaes, Catarina: - Catarina Dutilh Novaes is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She is the author of Formalizing Medieval Logical Theories (2007).