Logical Orthodoxy

The established, institutionalized set of beliefs about logic that dominate Western reasoning—the often-unexamined assumptions about what counts as logical, which logical systems are valid, and how logic should be applied. Logical orthodoxy includes specific commitments: that classical logic (with its laws of non-contradiction, excluded middle, and deduction) is the correct logic, that formal logic is superior to informal reasoning, that logical validity is the standard for argument, that contradictions are always errors, that logic is universal and culture-independent. Like all orthodoxies, it provides a framework for evaluating reasoning, but it functions as ideology when it becomes dogmatic—making a particular logical system seem like the only logical system, obscuring how logic varies across cultures and contexts (Buddhist logic, indigenous logic, paraconsistent logic), and delegitimizing alternative reasoning practices. Logical orthodoxy determines what arguments are considered "valid," what reasoning is "sound," and who counts as "logical" versus "illogical."

Example: "He dismissed Buddhist logic as 'just irrational' because it tolerated contradictions—not because he'd examined different logical systems, but because logical orthodoxy had made classical logic feel like Logic itself. The orthodoxy's power is making one system of reasoning feel like the only way to reason."

Logical Orthodoxy by Dumu The Void March 17, 2026