Antoine Arnauld, called "Le Grand Arnauld," was a French theologian, logician and philosopher. He was born in Paris on February 6, 1612, the youngest son of a lawyer. He died at the age of 82, August 6, 1694. Arnauld is famous for his books The Art of Thinking , which later became known as Port Royal Logic, and Port Royal Grammar.
Arnauld wrote several replies to René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, that gained him a reputation as an intellectually rigorous and perceptive critic, and that brought attention to the problem now known as 'the Cartesian circle.'
Arnauld's Philosophy: The Art of Thinking
He is a firm rationalist like Descartes. In The Art of Thinking, Arnauld proclaims that the main aim of logic is to inculcate clear thinking. Thus he writes, "Nothing is more to be esteemed than aptness in discerning the true from the false. Other qualities of mind are of limited use, but precision of thought is essential to every aspect and walk of life."
He believes that it is difficult not only in the sciences but also in the everyday life to distinguish truth from error, and that the most important measure of the mind is the capacity for discerning the truth.
Four Parts of Arnaud's The Logic
According to Arnauld, The Art of Thinking consists of four parts corresponding to the principal operations of the mind:
- Conceiving
- Judging
- Reasoning
- Ordering
Conceiving and judging imply a knowledge of language, since it is concepts and propositions, essentially linguistic items, that are conceived and judged.
Reasoning is a higher-level function of conceiving and judging. This is required when the concepts that form a proposition are not sufficiently clear for a judgment to be made.
Ordering is a mental activity which reflects the method of the new inductive sciences.
Arnauld accepts the general tenets of Cartesian thought. In line with Descartes' ontological dualism, he commits to the idea that speech is part of the material world and bound by its laws, but thought is not so constricted as it belongs to the essence of the mind. This leads to a distinction in Arnauld's work between grammar, on the one hand, which belongs to speech, and logic, which belongs to the realm of thought.
In the four-fold classification of The Logic, Arnauld places logic itself firmly within the faculty of reason, but insists that reasoning is merely an extension of judging. This idea is important for it reflects one side of a foundational debate concerning the status of logic.
Logic as a Tool of Clear Thinking
Arnauld and the other Port-royal logicians claim that logic is only a tool of clear thinking in order to aid rhetoric. They are hostile to the idea that logic reflects universal laws of thought corresponding to reality, which are necessary laws for any rational creature. These laws are:
- Law of non-contradiction
- Law of identity
- Law of excluded middle
Modern developments in both logic and quantum physics have cast doubt on the universality of at least two of the laws above, and giving support to the Port Royals' contention that logic is merely the refinement of clear thinking as an aid of argumentation or rhetoric.
Arnauld's Philosophical Works
- Port Royal Grammar, 1660 -- He argues that our mental processes and grammar are deeply connected, and that we need a universal grammar since mental processes are carried out by all human beings. (collaborated with Claude Launcelot)
- The Art of Thinking, 1683 – His most famous work, sometimes called The Logic. He argues that the main aim of logic is to develop clear thinking and to enable a person to distinguish truth from falsehood, in all aspects of life. (collaborated with Blaise Pascal and Pierre Nicole)
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
Philosophy, the Great Thinkers, by Philip Stokes, Capella, 2007
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