A culture of purity centered on logical correctness—treating any failure of formal reasoning as not just mistaken but morally suspect, any deviation from logical orthodoxy as corruption. Logical puritanism demands that all arguments be formally valid, all inferences be deductively sound, all reasoning be explicit and complete—standards that no actual human reasoning ever meets. It then uses the inevitable failures as grounds for condemnation, treating the gap between real human cognition and ideal logic as evidence of vice rather than just the human condition. Logical puritanism is what makes online debate so miserable: every rhetorical shortcut is a sin, every informal inference is a crime, and the goal is not understanding but exposure of error.
Example: "He couldn't engage with her argument—he was too busy cataloging every informal fallacy, treating each as a moral failing rather than just how humans talk. Logical Puritanism: making logic a weapon instead of a tool."
by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026
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