What is Contemporary Logic Talking About?

If we take a look, even a superficial one, at the literature of logic, pure and/or applied, extending, for example, from model theory to linguistics, from proof theory to deontic logic or intensional logics in general; if, in short, we reflect on the logical works developing in close contact with either mathematics or completely different disciplines, arriving finally at so-called ‘philosophical logic’, we can well ask ourselves to what extent all this can qualify as logic. One way to answer this question (considered by some as the way) is to indicate the entire historical course leading up to the formation of contemporary logical practice: the ‘necessity’ of recent developments should result from the interrelation of themes and techniques which have led to them historically. Certainly an argument of this kind is plausible; in fact, the understanding, let’s say, of the categorical approach to logic would be inconceivable without taking into account the concrete development of mathematical practice.