Language, Fuzzy Logic, Metalogic

Abstract

This article envisages two main goals: (1) It stresses the importance of language not just as an instrument but above all as an atmosphere, an ambience, where we grow up, we learn, we love and hate, we have pain and we pray, we think, we make mistakes and we finally die. That’s why language, though it is not governed by arbitrary rules, is not either a rigid and inflexible instrument, since it has to express the situations, emotions and experiences of our daily life. (2) It points out that logic has always tried to establish the fundamental rules of language and reasoning. But logic has not been able, till very recent times, to recognize its own possibility conditions, which build up its sense and strength. There is a dogmatic demand of determinacy of sense which should be avoided. Everyday language very often expresses doubt or disagreement, hesitance, ambiguity or vagueness. Indeed, the ideal of exactness is over. Fuzzy logic makes a fundamental contribution to the understanding of this fact. Any sentence can have an exact or a vague meaning depending on its context and purpose. Context is given by ordinary life which imposes conditions to sense and understanding. Fuzzy logic takes into account the specific conditions governing exactness and vagueness in the use of words.