Abstract

This book is an introductory logic text of moderate difficulty which contains added topics not usually found in an introductory book. The book has two parts--basic logic and advanced logic. The basic logic contains propositional logic through conditional proofs, syllogistic logic, the fundamentals of set theory and their application to both syllogistic and non-syllogistic inferences along with the use of Venn and Carroll diagrams, and concludes with predicate logic using the rules for Universal Instantiation, Existential Instantiation, Universal Generalization, and Existential Generalization. The part on advanced logic begins by extending the predicate logic to identity, descriptions, and relations. A presentation of modal logic includes C. I. Lewis' modal systems S3, S4, and S5; modal logic with quantification; epistemic, doxastic, and deontic modalities; and mixed modalities. A chapter on the logic of ordinary language considers analytic statements, empty expressions, and equivalence and implication in ordinary language. The author also discusses "tools of analysis" such as definition, the theory of meaning, probability theory, and scientific inference. Each chapter concludes with a section entitled "Philosophical Applications" or "Philosophical Difficulties." One of these sections contains the author's version of Hartshorne's modal proof of Anselm's ontological argument. Answers are provided for the even-numbered exercises.--T. G. N.