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Laboratorium Mentis baner

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2024)

Articles

Quantum logic and the question of the empiricality of logic [English translation]

  • Elżbieta Drozdowska
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52097/lm.9482  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2025-02-13

Abstract

The article undertakes the issue of whether logic is empirical, that is, whether it is possible to modify logic due to empirical reasons. We will call this issue the problem of the empiricality of logic. Hilary Putnam’s famous argument based on discoveries in quantum mechanics is discussed. Putnam claimed that classical logic should be discarded and replaced by quantum logic. This view is called the “Putnam thesis.” It was met with harsh criticism from Dummett and Kripke, among others. While their criticism is largely valid, it does not dismiss the idea that logic itself could be empirical. The aim of this paper is to show that it is possible to present the discovery of the non-distributivity of quantum propositions as an empirical fact with implications for the revision of the adequacy of certain laws of logic, and thus, that empirical facts can have an impact on logic.

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