Explosion and Reasoning

The paper responds to two recent versions of the argument against ex contradictione quodlibet (the principle that says that a contradiction entails any proposition, also known as “explosion”) based on the normative role of logic for reasoning. Both versions of the argument I am concerned with assume that a subject has defeasible reasons to believe any logical consequence of her beliefs. After showing this assumption to be more controversial than it might seem, I argue that even if it is true, and assuming ex contradictione quodlibet, no absurdity follows about what reasons the subject with inconsistent beliefs has. There is an independent explanation of the fact that a subject with inconsistent beliefs is not in a position to rationally infer anything. The reasons that derive from the inconsistency, if there are any, are a of peculiar kind, which I call inert reasons.