Willard and Husserl on logical form

John Drummond

pp. 243-255

in: Thomas M. Seebohm, Dagfinn Føllesdal, Mohanty (eds), Phenomenology and the formal sciences, Berlin, Springer, 1991

Abstract

An awful perplexity gripped me upon receiving the title of Professor Willard's paper. I had no idea whether to expect a series of off-color remarks about logically true sentences or — perhaps even worse — a serious attempt to ground the notion of logical form in perceptible colors. How would I handle the former, and what could I say about the latter, a position I was convinced no one could actually believe? I was not greatly consoled by the abstract of Professor Willard's paper, for in it I saw suggestions that some believed logical form to be perceptible shape — a position which suffers, as Professor Willard points out, from precisely the same difficulties as the one I feared he might present. Needless to say, I was reassured only by his announcement that he was going to argue against this view.

Cited authors

Husserl Edmund

Willard Dallas