Formality in Logic: From Logical Terms to Semantic Constraints

In the paper I discuss a prevailing view by which logical terms determine forms of sentences and arguments and therefore the logical validity of arguments. This view is common to those who hold that there is a principled distinction between logical and nonlogical terms and those holding relativistic accounts. I adopt the Tarskian tradition by which logical validity is determined by form, but reject the centrality of logical terms. I propose an alternative framework for logic where logical terms no longer play a distinctive role. This account employs a new notion of semantic constraints. The paper includes some preliminary definitions and results in the new framework.