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J. C. Beall

Jc Beall is an American logician and philosopher who taught for many years at the University of Connecticut and later at the University of…

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On the Coordinates: 4.5 Philosophy of Logic

Also known as Jc Beall

b. 1966 · Storrs, Connecticut; Notre Dame, Indiana

Traditions: Analytic

Jc Beall is an American logician and philosopher who taught for many years at the University of Connecticut and later at the University of Notre Dame. With Greg Restall he developed logical pluralism in Logical Pluralism (2006): the view that there is more than one correct relation of logical consequence, so that the dispute between classical and non-classical logics may be malformed. He has also written widely on truth, paradox and paraconsistent logic.

Key ideas

  • An argument is valid when every case in which the premises are true is a case in which the conclusion is true.
  • Different, equally legitimate ways of specifying 'cases' yield different correct logics, such as classical, intuitionist and relevant logic.
  • The liar and related paradoxes can be handled by a transparent truth predicate within a paraconsistent logic.
  • Some contradictions may be true without everything following from them.

Major works

  • Possibilities and Paradox (2003, with Bas C. van Fraassen)
  • Logical Pluralism (2006, with Greg Restall)
  • Spandrels of Truth (2009)

In the conversation

In the Coordinates

The questions of philosophy where J. C. Beall takes a place, from The Coordinates of Thought.