Logical Varieties in Normative Reasoning

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Logic of Reasonable Inferences, a logical framework based on logical varieties, designed to handle inconsistent knowledge in legal reasoning where traditional logic systems fall short.

Contribution

It presents the Logic of Reasonable Inferences as a novel logical system based on logical varieties, extending the applicability of formal logic to inconsistent domains like legal reasoning.

Findings

The logic successfully models legal reasoning with inconsistent information.

Logical varieties are shown to be suitable for representing reasoning processes in complex domains.

Properties of logical varieties related to legal reasoning are systematically developed.

Abstract

Although conventional logical systems based on logical calculi have been successfully used in mathematics and beyond, they have definite limitations that restrict their application in many cases. For instance, the principal condition for any logical calculus is its consistency. At the same time, knowledge about large object domains (in science or in practice) is essentially inconsistent. Logical prevarieties and varieties were introduced to eliminate these limitations in a logically correct way. In this paper, the Logic of Reasonable Inferences is described. This logic has been applied successfully to model legal reasoning with inconsistent knowledge. It is demonstrated that this logic is a logical variety and properties of logical varieties related to legal reasoning are developed.