Mental models, logical forms, and the horns sophism

Abstract

At present, there is a very relevant theory explaining human reasoning. That is the mental models theory, a semantic approach that is proving that it can solve most of the cognitive problems that are to be found in the scientific literature. In this paper, I try to show how this theory can account for the reasons why an ancient sophism indicated by Diogenes Laërtius is usually rejected by people, and why it is a better alternative than the thesis that the human mind works by means of formal rules. Likewise, I argue that to assume the mental models theory does not necessarily means to accept the idea that human reasoning is not logical.