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What Problem Did Ladd-Franklin (Think She) Solve(d)?

Uckelman, Sara L.

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Abstract

Christine Ladd-Franklin is often hailed as a guiding star in the history of women in logic—not only did she study under C. S. Peirce and was one of the first women to receive a PhD from Johns Hopkins, she also, according to many modern commentators, solved a logical problem which had plagued the field of syllogisms since Aristotle. In this paper, we revisit this claim, posing and answering two distinct questions: Which logical problem did Ladd-Franklin solve in her thesis, and which problem did she think she solved? We show that in neither case is the answer “a long-standing problem due to Aristotle.” Instead, what Ladd-Franklin solved was a problem due to Jevons that was first articulated in the nineteenth century.

Citation

Uckelman, S. L. (2021). What Problem Did Ladd-Franklin (Think She) Solve(d)?. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 62(3), 527-552. https://doi.org/10.1215/00294527-2021-0026

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 5, 2021
Online Publication Date Oct 6, 2021
Publication Date 2021-08
Deposit Date Apr 20, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic
Print ISSN 0029-4527
Electronic ISSN 1939-0726
Publisher University of Notre Dame
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 62
Issue 3
Pages 527-552
DOI https://doi.org/10.1215/00294527-2021-0026

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