Logician's 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.

2019 "Truth and Paradox" seminar at NYU: from left to right:  King Saul, Savior of Truth, Prince of Glutany (Abp. of CT), Prince of Darkness.

StA.pdf

Members


This is the most up-to-date list available as of 2023. If you believe that you or someone you know has been inducted into the LLL, please contact zach.weber@otago.ac.nz

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).