The Road to Core Logic
Neil W. Tennant · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2017
We situate Core Logic and Classical Core Logic within a wider logical landscape. Core Logic lies at the intersection of two orthogonal lines of reform of Classical Logic—constructivization and relevantization. We explain the genesis of Core Logic and describe its carefully formulated rules of inference. We reveal how Core Logic arises as a smooth generalization of the proto-logic involved in working out the truth values of sentences under particular interpretations; and the case for the complete methodological adequacy of Core Logic for constructive deductive reasoning, and of Classical Core Logic for non-constructive deductive reasoning. Core Logic deserves the label ‘Core’, because it is both fully employed, and sufficient, as the metalogic involved in any process of rational belief revision. No rule of Core Logic can be surrendered. We end by speculating on two possible explanations—semantic and methodological—of how Core Logic might have been bloated to Classical Logic.