Logical form: Difference between revisions

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{{Redirect|Argument structure|the possible complements of a verb in linguistics|verb argument}}

In [[logic]], the '''logical form''' of a [[Statement (logic)|statement]] is a precisely- specified [[Semantics|semantic]] version of that statement in a [[formal system]]. Informally, the logical form attempts to [[Logic translation#Natural language formalization|formalize]] a possibly [[Syntactic ambiguity|ambiguous]] statement into a statement with a precise, unambiguous logical interpretation with respect to a formal system. In an ideal [[formal language]], the meaning of a logical form can be determined unambiguously from [[syntax]] alone. Logical forms are semantic, not syntactic constructs; therefore, there may be more than one [[string (computer science)|string]] that represents the same logical form in a given language.<ref>The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, CUP 1999, pp. 511–512</ref>

The logical form of an [[argument]] is called the '''argument form''' of the argument.

==History==

The importance of the concept of form to logic was already recognized in ancient times. [[Aristotle]], in the ''[[Prior Analytics]]'', was probablyone of the first people to employ variable letters to represent valid inferences.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} Therefore, [[Jan Łukasiewicz]] claims that the introduction of variables was "one of Aristotle's greatest inventions."{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

According to the followers of Aristotle like [[Ammonius Hermiae|Ammonius]], only the logical principles stated in schematic terms belong to logic, and not those given in concrete terms. The concrete terms ''man'', ''mortal'', and so forth are analogous to the substitution values of the schematic placeholders ''A'', ''B'', ''C'', which were called the "matter" (Greek ''hyle'', Latin ''materia'') of the argument.