Universality and Indifference: Is Logic Neutral?

Event dedicated to the memory of Susan Haack.

Logic is often regarded as neutral within a theoretical, conceptual framework.

On a traditional view, it is topic-neutral and metaphysically neutral: its laws and principles apply irrespective of subject matter, abstracting from the particular domains to which they are applied. In this sense, logic would provide a framework for reasoning independent of what we are reasoning about. Moreover, as a scientific discipline, logic is commonly expected to be neutral to social and political commitments. Indeed, because of its high degree of abstraction, this may be expected of logic more strongly than of most other disciplines.

Meanwhile, the purely theoretical view on logic faces revisions from research practices through logical devices. Within a practical framework, some philosophers and logicians have nevertheless questioned whether logic is genuinely neutral. For instance, some have questioned whether topic-neutrality can be sustained considering debates over logical pluralism, expressive power, and domain pertinence. Others have discussed whether logic can, in practice, be disentangled from the social and institutional contexts in which it is developed, taught, and applied.

This workshop will examine the idea of logical neutrality from multiple perspectives.

Programme

Day 1: Friday 13 November 2026

• 8:30 – 9:00 Registration
• 9:00 – 9:15 Opening
• 9:15 – 10:15 Gillian Russell - Neutrality, normativity, and neutrality and normativity
• 10:15 – 12:00 Poster session 1
• 12:00 – 13:00 Otávio Bueno - TBA
• 13:00 – 14:30 Lunch 
• 14:30 – 15:30 María José Frápolli - What do we do when we do logic?
• 15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
• 16:00 – 17:00 Francesco Berto
• 17:15 – 18:30 Walk in Englischer Garten
• 19:00 – 21:00 Conference dinner

Day 2: Saturday 14 November 2026

• 9:15 – 10:15 Sara Uckelman - The non-neutrality of logic
• 10:15 – 12:00 Poster session 2
• 12:00 – 13:00 María del Rosario Martínez-Ordaz - The reconstruction objection: On the neutrality of evidence in logic
• 13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break
• 14:30 – 15:30 Christian Damböck - How Carnap’s noncognitivism about moral values became noncognitivism about logics and frameworks
• 15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
• 16:00 – 17:00 TBA
• 17:00 – 17:30 Closing remarks

Registration

Participation is free, but you must register using the form below:

https://forms.gle/HRgmz38g5M2w1Vqw6

Acknowledgements

The workshop is generously funded by Faculty 10’s Mentoring Program, the German Society for Analytic Philosophy (Gesellschaft für analytische Philosophie e.V., GAP)., and the German Society for Philosophy of Science (Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsphilosophie e.V., GWP).