Diskurslogik

Diskurslogik, or discourse logic, is a term used in German-language philosophy, linguistics, and logic to describe the study of the logical properties of discourse. It concerns how sequences of statements function as a coherent whole, how conclusions are drawn across sentences, and how context, presupposition, and speech acts influence truth conditions and justification. Rather than focusing on single propositions in isolation, diskurslogik analyzes the inferential and narrative structure of discourse, including how arguments accumulate, how coherence is maintained, and how turn-taking and dialogical dynamics affect meaning.

The field draws on several traditions, including formal logic, semantics, pragmatics, and argumentation theory. Formal approaches model discourse with specialized systems such as discourse logics, discourse representation theory, or dynamic and dialogical logics, aiming to represent how later statements depend on earlier ones and how commitments are distributed among participants. Empirical work in psychology and computational linguistics complements theoretical analyses by examining how people process discourse and by enabling automated analysis of argumentative structure.

Applications of diskurslogik appear in areas such as natural language understanding, legal argumentation, rhetorical analysis, and the study of political discourse. Key challenges include capturing context sensitivity, dealing with nonspecific or implicit content, and representing multi-party interaction. The term is not universally standardized and may be used with varying emphases across authors.