Social Uses of Logic in Medieval and Modern Contexts
Abstract
During the Middle Ages, especially from the 13th century on, logic constituted a propaedeutic discipline for any form of higher education as well as an art of ‘disputation’ (disputatio), which represented both a scientific method and a compulsory performance for gaining university degrees, socially organized and controlled by teaching institutions. Logic was also newly regarded as a science and a technique for perfecting the intellect of men. It thereby received an unprecedented anthropological signification, while it led to relegate whole social groups, thought of as deprived of logic, to inferior forms of humanity. Medieval logic represented a dominant argumentative culture, doted with a strong normative significance.
Only the normative dimension of logic remains today, but to a large extent detached from its theoretical foundation and its educational value. Our era is characterized by the disappearance of a formal teaching of logic and by the end of the practice of disputation. The concept of intelligence has undergone major evolutions, while intellectual and scientific practices no longer follow a rigid and ritualized logical pattern. The very notion of logic has also changed radically, with a divorce between formal logic and the so-called ‘informal logic,’ and the disappearance the idea of logic as a unitary norm which came along the emergence of an irreducible logical pluralism. Social uses of logic are essentially discriminatory, as can be observed indirectly in intelligence tests and directly in logical tests, according to a selection program largely based on the identification of ‘native’ logical skills of the candidates. However, a concern for logical education, but under a different name, has reemerged during the 20th century, with the critical thinking movement. The reflections and practices it led to offer interesting parallels with the medieval situation of logic.
The study of the medieval situation of logic allows to point out irreversible changes, to trace long-lasting legacies and stimulating parallels, but also to reflect on modern uses of logic from a different angle. The history of the uses and values bestowed on logic along time and spaces helps pluralizing and historicizing logic, especially when used as an instrument to evaluate on the basis of a ‘universal and natural’ logic the degrees of rationality of individuals and groups whose intellectual behavior does not fit into the norm.
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