CfP: Sociology & Anthropology of Logic
Sociology and Anthropology of Logic: Past and Present
Workshop organized by Julie Brumberg-Chaumont (LEM/CNRS/PSL, Paris
Research University) and Claude Rosental (CEMS/IMM/CNRS/EHESS/PSL)
The workshop "sociology and anthropology of logic: past and present"
intends to explore the various ways in which logic can be approached
from a sociological or anthropological point of view. We will look into
how various actors and peoples concretely define and practice logic.
Logic will not be apprehended according to a fixed definition of what it
is or what it should be in order to assess its various definitions and
practices. Instead, we will analyze their possible plurality.
We will focus on both past and present definitions and practices of
logic. Historical investigations are welcome. In particular, we will
discuss how philosophy and history of logic might benefit from various
methodological approaches developed by historians and sociologists of
mathematics and science over the past 40 years.
The organizers have contributed to this endeavour in various ways. In
particular, Claude Rosental has been studying contemporary logical
demonstrations from a sociological point of view. As for Julie
Brumberg-Chaumont, she launched a programme called "Homo Logicus, Logic
at the Edges of Humanity: Anthropological, Philosophical and Historical
Approaches" with Antonella Romano at EHESS in Paris in 2016, and another
programme called "Social History of Logic in the Middle Ages" with John
Marenbon (Trinity College, Cambridge) in 2017.
The anthropological dimension of logic may be observed, for example, in
the debates that Lévy-Bruhl's notion of "pre-logical mentality" of
indigenous peoples has generated for more than a century.
Anthropologists and other actors have often referred to logical skills
to define the boundaries of humanity. Depending on their more or less
open definitions of logic, they have included a limited or a large
number of humans within these boundaries. Testing codified logical
skills - Aristotelian and traditional logic in the past, thinking skill
assessment (TSA) today - has been used since the Middle Ages as a way to
select individuals in higher education institutions and/or as a means
for excluding "logically disabled" groups in relationship to their
so-called "social or racial inferiority." A sociological approach to the
history of logic implies that logic is not only a set of theories and
doctrines, but also a tool for action that individuals use in different
institutional, political, and social settings.
Several authors have contributed to approaching logic this way. For
instance, David Bloor's work inspired Irving Anellis and Ivor
Grattan-Guiness's criticisms of the notion of the "Fregean revolution."
The "social history of logic" programme developed by Volker Peckaus and
Christian Thiel in the 1980s also illustrates this trend.
Papers are expected to cover one of the following topics:
-Logic and the Boundaries of Humanity -Social Studies of Logic
-Anthropological History of Logic -Selecting Humans Based on their
Logical Skills -Ethnologic and Ethnomathematics -History of Logic and
History of Anthropology
Abstracts (one page) should be sent by October 5, 2017 via e-mail to: brumberg@vjf.cnrs.fr