Logical Skills. Social-Historical Perspectives Series

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The volume wishes to address a variety of questions arising when logic is approachedby overriding compartmentalization, by adopting an interdisciplinary viewpoint,and by taking into account its fully social and historical dimensions. By raising thequestion of logical skills, it aims at pausing and stepping aside from an approachessentially centered on the doctrinal history of logical theories.Logic has long been seen as a natural and universal human ability, as much as aseries of skills that only “sane,” “educated,” and “civilized” men can master. Thevolumeinvestigates this tension. It explores how various logical skills have beenestablished as social norms and attributed, or denied, to some actors or groups in differentspaces throughout history. Written by historians, philosophers, and sociologists,and drawing on several case studies, it examines how these skills were defined,taken as standards and identified in some individuals, while they were deemed missingin others. It studies how they have been mobilized in educational theories, practices,and policies. It examines the dynamics of valuation (i.e., assessment andvalorization) and implementation of these skills across different epochs, ranging fromthe Middle Ages until the present day. It specifies the different conceptions of logicunderpinning these approaches, as well as their social and political stakes.The representations of logic related to the different cases studied in the book arequite diverse. Some of them refer to Aristotelian and syllogistic conceptions.Others refer to a “natural logic” rooted in the human mind or to artificial languages.Others still involve non-classical logics as opposed to a unitary and universal logic,or logics allegedly proper to some peoples (i.e., “native logics”), as opposed to“Western logic.”The social political issues raised by the identification and possible enhancement oflogical skills in some individuals rather than others are manifold. The book shows thatit has helped to support distinctions between “primitive” and “civilized” peoples,between “uneducated” men and the “elites,” or between “normal” and “disabled” individuals.It has led to define principles and norms for the functioning of the humanmind, whether for infants, for children as they develop, or for adults. Symmetrically,this approach has led to identify deranged, illogical people, as well as idiots.These distinctions have been used to assign varying rights and duties to differenthuman groups or to their members. They have upheld principles and methods forselecting individuals in educational institutions and dynamics of exclusion of groupsconsidered socially or racially inferior because of their “logical disability” or their“pre-logical mentality.” They have been instrumental in justifying colonial domination,as much as convicting and executing criminals.This volume differs from many psychology publications in that it does not seekto highlight the acquisition, possession, or lack of logical skills in anonymous andinterchangeable “subjects” according to a reference logic. It deals with socio-historicallysituated actors and groups and analyzes the conceptions of logic that aremobilized to valuate their skills and to devise educational “politics of logic.”The volume is also different from various philosophical works that offer a reflectionon the (il)logical ways of thinking and acting of societies—or of the individualswho compose them. On the contrary, such reflections are taken as an object of socialhistorical study in its own right.Furthermore, it differs from histories of ideas in the field of logic. It does not setout from a definition of logic that would serve as a once-and-for-all fixed reference,which would lead to select some approaches to logic and exclude others from thescope of our study. It develops a social historical approach to logic. By focusing onlogical skills, it shows the many ways in which logic can be understood. Logic doesnot simply appear as a set of theories and doctrines, but also as a tool that individualsand groups use for numerous purposes in various institutional, political, andsocial contexts. Generally speaking, logic is seen as a social practice.This volume is intended for researchers, teachers, and students in several fieldsof knowledge, including history, sociology, and philosophy of science, as well aslogic, psychology, and colonial studies. We hope that the theoretical reflections andcase studies it contains will inspire our readers and elicit new approaches of logicbased on an interdisciplinary and non-reductionist perspective