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

Uckelman, Sara L.

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: Apr 20, 2021
• 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
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1249554