Christine Ladd-Franklin and the progress of formal logic

Abstract

I want to highlight Christine Ladd-Franklin's contribution to logic, by placing her technical contribution to the algebra of logic in the broader context of her philosophical contribution to logic in general, concerning her view of the nature of logic and its role in philosophy. First, I will present the sense in which her algebra of logic means a progress within formal logic towards a higher level of formality. Second, I will focus on the contrast between the new symbolic form of logic and the traditional non-symbolic form of logic. Third, I will focus on the contrast between the symbolic form of logic and the "mathematical" form of symbolic logic that Russell and his ilk were trying to impose.