Galen’s Logic: Aristotelian Heritage or Scientific Innovation?
Keywords:
proof, hypothetical logic, states of affairs, modern logic, situational semanticsAbstract
The subject of inquiry is Galen's logical heritage, where certain aspects are closely connected with his medical practice. In this respect, his views on hypothetical logic are particularly interesting, especially in light of his slogan "Pay attention to things, not words." Galen posits that there are three ways in which a pair of states of affairs might be related: they might be in conflict, in consequence, or in neither relation. This classification of relations between states of affairs could be represented as a specific ontological square.
Traces of Galen's conceptions are evident in modern logic, particularly in the systems of non-Fregean and relevant logics with situational semantics. For example, in the framework of non-Fregean logic, the statement "Q situationally involves P" implies "if P, then Q" (but not vice versa), aligning with Galen's slogan.
A rather different, more complicated situational semantics of relevant logic also reflects Galen's logical approach. This type of semantics considers the closeness of relevant implication to natural language conditionals, which are often employed in Galen's reasoning, particularly in the context of disease diagnostics due to their hypothetical nature. To some extent, the semantics of such conditional descriptions could be utilized in computer medical diagnostics. In this case, the modern physician would inevitably need to be a logician, much like in Galen's time.
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