Universal logic

Universal logic is the field of logic that is concerned with giving an account of what features are common to all logical structures. Universal logic is to logic what universal algebra is to algebra.

The term 'universal logic' was introduced in the 1990s by Swiss logician Jean-Yves Béziau, but the field has arguably existed for many decades. Some of the works of Alfred Tarski in the early twentieth century, for example, can be regarded as fundamental contributions to universal logic.

The First World Congress and School on Universal Logic took place in Montreux, Switzerland in early 2005. Participants included Béziau, Dov Gabbay, Saul Kripke, and David Makinson.

The term 'universal logic' has also been used by some logicians (e.g. Richard Sylvan and Ross Brady) to mean a logic that is applicable in all situations—even impossible ones.

Resources

 * Béziau, J.-Y. (ed). 2005.  Logica Universalis: Towards a General Theory of Logic.  Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag.  ISBN 3-7643-7259-1
 * Brady, R. 2006.  Universal Logic.  Stanford: CSLI Publications.  ISBN 1-57586-255-7.
 * A journal dedicated to Universal Logic: Logica Universalis.