Logic, Ancient and Modern: Toward a ‘History of Thinking’

This paper applies the distinction that Owen Barfield drew between ‘the history of thought’ and ‘the history of thinking’ (or ‘the evolution of consciousness’) to standard accounts of the transition from traditional to modern logic. It shows that most standard accounts of the history of logic fail to account for changes in consciousness that underlie developments in the history of ideas, and therefore stand to be deepened and enriched by Barfield’s insights.