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in Logic

I read once that an African tribe was asked a simple logical problem paraphrased as follows: "Berlin is a city in Germany. There are absolutely no camels in Germany. Are there camels in Berlin?" The tribe could not provide a definitive answer, instead saying things like "I have never been to Berlin, so I cannot say whether there are camels or not" or "If Berlin is a big city, there must be camels" in other words, completely missing the logical puzzle and instead providing more pragmatic answers. Now this story may be apocryphal, since I cannot find where I read it, but it raises an interesting question. To what extent is logic universal, is it culturally biased/culturally learned, and how do we explain the answers of the tribe?

September 6, 2012

Response from Richard Heck on September 15, 2012

The claim that "logic is universal" is the claim that the norms of correct reasoning are universal. It is not the claim that everyone follows those norms, or that everyone reasons well.

In the story as told (apocryphal or otherwise), the tribesmen are failing to make a certain inference. That makes them poor reasoners, but it doesn't threaten the universality of logic.

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