Logicians Liberation League

In the (northen) autumn of 1969, Robert K (Bob) Meyer read out a manifesto at the close of a philosophy seminar given by Prof. Paul Eisenberg, at Indiana University, USA.

The Maximum Leader was attacked during the presentation, with a banana cream pie, by Mrs. Marianne Tienson.

JM Dunn recalls (2019): "I think she hadn't a lot of practice throwing pies. She mostly missed Bob but hit two Philosophy of Education professors. The then chair of the Philosophy Dept., George Nakhnikian, was mortified. George and Bob had an ongoing argument about the Clark Kerr pie throwing [see here]. George thought it was bad. Bob agreed but also thought it was funny. George claimed that something could not be both bad and funny. Evidently Bob constructed the Goodbody Hall pie throwing as a counterexample to George's view. Obviously George did not accept it."

The Manifesto

Whereas

logic is the essence of philosophy, and

logic is the organon of philosophy, and

logic is the form of philosophy

and

whereas

coaches, assistant coaches, managers, trainers and fans

of the IU philosophy team have

made frequent and insinuating remarks about the number of

logicians recruited for this year's philosophy team,

have discouraged the recruitment of outstanding out-of-state

prospects solely on the ground that they are logicians,

have refused to recognize the right of logicians to their

own unique cultural heritage, acquiescing in particular in

the denial to them of such treasured items as blackboards,

erasers, chalk, and old napkins,

performed acts degrading to logicians as human beings,

performed acts degrading to logicians as individuals,

performed acts degrading to logicians as men,

performed acts degrading to logicians as manifestations of God,

collections of atoms, free spirits,

THE EFFECT OF WHICH HAS BEEN

misery, suffering, pain, affliction, and one severe case of

philosopher's foot,

We the members of

THE LOGICIANS LIBERATION LEAGUE

do hereby announce our intention, if attention to our fair

grievances is not forthcoming,

to boycott Friday practice sessions,

to howl and jeer when the name of an ethicist, metaphysician,

epistemologist, aesthetician, or any other kind of

Establishment jerk is proposed for addition to the team,

to root for the political science department in competition

for the coveted Ewing Bowl,

to reveal that other members of the team are mere symbol

pushers and hawkers of uninterpretable calculi,

to prove the existence of God, the relativity of moral judgments,

the identity thesis, and the truth of neo-Pythagorean

skeptical hedonism, thus leaving other members of the

team with nothing to talk about.

Do not be deceived, Establishment pigs (this means you too,

Establishment dogs). The subservience of past generations

of logicians does not mean that we shall bear forever our

treatment as animals (you barnyard fowl). We are human

beings (you swine). You are living in a day when logicians

will not any longer endure your taunts, your slurs, your

insults (you filthy vermin). In the name of A. N. Whitehead

and B. Russell we gather; in the spirit of R. Carnap and

A. Tarski, we march; by the word of W. V. O. Quine, we shall

prevail. Beware you snakes of the Philosophical Power

Structure, which you have created and which you maintain to

put down the logician; you have caged the eagle of reason,

the dove of wisdom, and the lark of a definite, precisely

formulated formal system, with exact formation rules, a

recursive set of axioms, and clear and cogent rules of

inference, and you have made them your pigeons. Oh, you

filterable viruses, we will shake you off and fly once more.

All my love,

Robert K. Meyer

Maximum Leader

Logicians Liberation League

Front Row Left to Right: (Unknown person), Paul Thistlewaite, Richard Routley/Sylan, Martin Bunder, Nick Griffin, (Unknown Person)

Back Row Left to Right: Robert Meyer, Peter Lavers, Michael (Zorba) McRobbie, Igor Urbas, Paul Gochet, Graham Priest, Chris Mortensen

Front Row Left to right: Richard Routley/Sylan Robert Meyer

Back Row Left to Right: Errol Martin, Paul Thistlewaite, Michael (Zorba) McRobbie, Unknown (so far), Ross Brady, John Slaney, Chris Mortensen, Graham Priest.

StA.pdf

Members

This is the most up-to-date list available as of 2025. If you believe that you or someone you know has been inducted into the LLL, please contact zach.weber@otago.ac.nz

The Maximum Leader -- Robert K Meyer
Saint Alasdair the Blessed -- Alasdair Urquhart
Boss of Bloomington -- J Michael Dunn
Marshal of Cadell -- Michael McRobbie
Lady Plumwood -- Valarie Plumwood
Peer of Plumwood -- Richard Sylvan
Prince of Paradox -- Ross Brady
Prince of Darkness -- Graham Priest
Beallzebub, Prince of Glutany (Archbishop of Connecticut) -- Jc Beall
Protector of Oz -- Chris Mortensen
Chief Combinator -- Martin Bunder
Duke of Durham -- John Slaney
The One True Believer -- Greg Restall
Dominator of Something Vague -- Dominic Hyde
Identity of Relevance -- Edwin Mares
Princess of Lovelight L -- Susan Rogerson
King Saul -- Saul Kripke
Earl of Carlton -- Errol Martin
Battler of Braddon -- Steve Giambrone
Baron of Bundoora -- Paul Thistlewaite
Governor of Ithica -- Paul Pritchard
Knight of Long Knives -- Howard Burdick
Lord of Russell -- Nick Griffin
Canon of Christchurch -- Melissa Abraham
Matron of Meinong -- Jean Norman
The One True Scot -- Stephen Read
Constant Revisor -- André Fuhrmann
Cardinal of Comprehension -- Zach Weber
Duke of Duality and Cutter of Cuts-- Ellie Ripley
Navigator of Non-Normality -- Colin Caret
Queen of Combinators -- Katalin Bimbo
Protector of Protector -- Steve Leishman
Doctor of the Rotating Paradox -- Peter Quigley
Doctor Non-Classicus -- Charlie Donahue
Savior of Truth -- Hartry Field
Fount of Formality -- Branden Fitelson
Minister of Mereology -- Aaron Cotnoir
Count of Connectives -- Lloyd Humberstone
Apostle to the Gentiles -- Allen Hazen
General of Generality -- Lavinia Picollo
Bastard of Boethius -- Thomas Ferguson
Baron of Buenos Aires -- Eduardo Alejandro Barrio
The Trivial One -- Luis Estrada Gonzalez
Cardinal of Connexivity -- Heinrich Wansing
Pope Francesco, Theology of Substructural Liberation -- Francesco Paoli
Queen of Contradictions -- Elena Ficara
Conqueror of Contraction -- Elia Zardini
Holder of Hegel's Spirit -- Francesco Berto
Vicar of Validity -- Julian Murzi
Earl of Higher Orderliness -- Marcus Rossberg
Crusher of Consequence -- Lionel Shapiro
Keeper of Classical Residue, and Truth Tabulator -- Hitoshi Omori
Master of Deviant Meaning -- Gillian Russell
Wizard Without Exceptions -- Ole Hjortland
Protector of Arguments -- Catarina Dutilh Novaes
King of All Contexts -- Michael Glanzberg
Sultan of Sequents -- Richard Zach
Priestess of Pluralisms -- Nicole Wyatt
Razor of Reflexivity -- Rohan French
Creator of Cartesian Consequence and Keeper of the Funk-- Andrew Tedder
The Revisionary -- Shawn Standefer
Priestess of Paradox -- Franca D'Agostini
Knight Marshall of the Ancient and Illustrious Order of Inferentialists -- Andrew Parisi
Fixer of Points and Master of On -- Toby Meadows
The Modal Madman -- Patrick Girard
The Circumscriber of Coyoacán -- Raymundo Morado
The Impossible One -- Daniel Nolan
The Crispy One and Herald of Hyperformalism -- Shay Logan
Raja of Rough Sets -- Ivo Düntsch
Rector and Protector of Safety -- Yaroslav Shramko
Overseer of Ostrava -- Libor Behounek
Hierophant Hyperintensionalitatis -- Igor Sedlár
Imperator inFerenz -- Nick Ferenz
The Grand Inquisitor -- Vit Punčochár
Thinker To Some Purpose -- Teresa Kouri Kissel
Comtesse of Coalgebras -- Marta Bílková
Don of Prague -- Petr Cintula
Arcbishop of Ithaca -- Alexander Kocurek
The Refutor -- Sara Ayhan
The Obligatrix -- Sara Uckelman
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Knowledge -- Roman Kuznets
The Gardener of Eden -- Adam Přenosil
The Pruner of Proofs -- Agata Ciabattoni
Admiral of Announcements -- Thomas Ågotnes
Sacristan of Singularities -- Keith Simmons
Cooker of the Feminist Logic Revival -- Roy Cook
The Plumwood Whisperer -- Maureen Eckert
Godfather of Metallogica -- Carles Noguera
The Groundskeeper -- Eileen Nutting
The Master of Models -- Guillermo Badia
Steward of Semilattices -- Yale Weiss
Gladiator of Ghent -- Diderik Batens
Relayer of Relevance and Liberator of Louvain-la-Neuve -- Peter Verdée
Diosa de la Dogmática Dialetheista -- Susana Gomez
Priest of Inconsistent Machinations -- Fernando Cano-Jorge
Lord of Formal Inconsistency -- João Marcos
Baron of Bilattices -- Umberto Rivieccio
Alchemist of Mathematical Pluralism -- Michèle Friend
The Wizard of Scientific Contradictions -- Otávio Bueno
Domesticator of Dynamical Systems -- Levin Hornischer
Regent of Roots and Baron of Branches -- Melvin Fitting
The Marshal of Poland -- Tomasz Kowalski
Guardian of Gamma -- Tore Fjetland Øgaard
Magister of Malicious Networks -- Mina Young Pedersen
Lion of Logic's Liberation -- Franci Mangraviti
Font of Fourtitude -- Sandra Maria Lopez Velasco
The Vector -- Damian Szmuc
The Plurivaluationist -- Nick JJ Smith
Antipope of Proof-Theoretic Semantics -- Will Stafford
Minister of Methodological Pluralism -- Nathan Kellen
The Lord of the Semirings -- Lovro Mrkonjic
The Kaiser of Automata -- Erik Paul
The Artisan of Learning -- Nina Gierasimczuk
The Matrix Driver -- Daniel Skurt
The Representative of Representation -- Axel Barceló
The Duke of Dialetheism -- Bradley Armour-Garb
The Lady of Lake Minnetonka -- Cat Saint-Croix
The Grand Duke of Ground -- Jon Litland
His Magnificence the Closer of Gaps and Super by All Evaluations -- Bas C. van Fraasen
Dr. Canonica, Experimentalist -- Edoardo Canonica

LOGICIANS LIBERATION LEAGUE BULL(ETIN?) #1, September 1984

THE FINE PRINT

===Memo to All LLL Members===

When two or more LLL members gather in the name of logic at a conference, workshop or other such meeting, a photo in the name of the Maximum Leader shall be taken and stored for perpetuity in the LLL archives.

[NOTE: The signature is lost to time’s cruel effects but it appears to say “AML, ML, LLL” — the standard signature of the Maximum Leader]

The Maximum Leader decreed that any member may *award* (not nominate) a title to any deserving person ***for services to logic*** where the services clause must be explicit at the “ceremony” (which normally involves more than 1 LLL member).

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse