Saturday, January 13, 2018

Deductive Logic and Productive Logic

In its usual usage, the term 'Practical Syllogism' is only nominally 'practical'--it is constituted by a sequence of Propositions as much as a Theoretical Syllogism is, defined also by Deductive Logic. That is why there is a profound lacuna in Kant's doctrine--between 'I ought to do X' and doing X, that the stern words "Categorical Imperative" cannot fill.  In contrast, Reason that is truly Practical, formulated by a Syllogism that is truly Practical, is one in which a mere thought suffices to actualize the content.  In this case, the Instantiation of a Universal is literal, or, equivalently, Reason is efficacious.  So, a better term for it might be Productive Reason, with the sequence of which, accordingly, the Productive Syllogism, defined by Productive Logic.  Thus, the Necessity that characterizes Productive Logic is more powerful than that of Deductive Logic.

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