The Question of Logic.

The article critically examines the Quinean view that logical laws are scientific hypotheses subject to empirical revision, focusing on Hilary Putnam’s 1968 proposal to adopt a non-classical "quantum logic" to resolve foundational issues in quantum mechanics. It argues that the idea of "adopting" a logic as one would a scientific theory is incoherent because logical principles are not merely hypotheses but are essential to the very reasoning required to formulate and evaluate any formal system. The discussion highlights that attempts to revise classical logic, such as rejecting the distributive law in quantum logic, lead to contradictions and undermine fundamental reasoning patterns, making such revisions untenable. Ultimately, the article contends that while formal systems and alternative connectives can be introduced and studied, logic itself—understood as the structure of reasoning—is not something that can be freely chosen or empirically replaced.