Description
Book SynopsisElementary Logic has been noted since 1941 for scope and rigor. Quine provides techniques for the central business of modern logic, explaining formal concepts, treating the paraphrasing of words into symbols, and giving procedures for testing truth-function logic and proofing the logic of quantifiers. Fully one third of this revised edition is new.
Trade ReviewCombines exemplary clarity and precision with an unusual vividness and originality in style which actually make the study of the work a fascinating adventure—no small achievement in the reputedly dullest and most barren field of scientific research. -- Carl G. Hempel * Philosophic Abstracts *
A masterpiece of clarity and analysis, setting forth at once briefly and comprehensively an introduction to formal logic that few can match. * Philosophical Studies *
It will serve the purpose of inculcating, by precept and example, standards of clarity and precision which are, even in formal logic, more often pursued than achieved. Viewed as a whole, the system of logic explained in this book comes nearer than any previous attempt to conforming with the regulative ideals of the mathematical logician… This advance in unification and deductive elegance is not achieved at the expense of rigour; while the striking nature of the gain in the conciseness of the whole may be verified by any reader who will compare the length of this book with that of the corresponding sections in
Principia… Every section of this book provides evidence of rare skill, both in research and communication; it deserves to be read and read again by all who have a serious interest in mathematical logic. -- Max Black * Mind *
For Quine, of course, the territory of logic seems but an extension of his own back yard, so assuredly does he walk there where others tread only with brainracking caution. And as he is both master innovator and master explicator, with a masterful prose style to boot, any work of his is a painless necessity. * Choice *
Table of ContentsPreface to the Revised Edition Preface to the 1941 Edition 1. Introduction PART 1: STATEMENT COMPOSITION 2. Truth Values 3. Conjunction 4. Denial 5. 'Or' 6. 'But', 'although', 'unless' 7. 'If' 8. General and Subjunctive Conditionals 9. 'Because', 'hence', 'that' 10. Reduction to Conjunction and Denial 11. Grouping 12. Verbal Cues to Grouping 13. Paraphrasing Inward PART 2: TRUTH-FUNCTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS 14. Substitution in Truth-Functional Schemata 15. Instances 16. Equivalent Schemata 17. Truth-Functional Equivalence 18. Replacement 19. Transformation 20. Proofs of Equivalence 21. Alternation and Duality 22. Normal Schemata 23. Validity 24. Truth-Functional Truth 25. Inconsistency and Truth-Functional Falsity 26. Implication between Schemata 27. Truth-Functional Implication PART 3: QUANTIFICATION 28. 'Something' 29. Quantifiers 30. Variables and Open Sentences 31. Variants of 'Some' 32. 'Some' Restricted 33. 'No' 34. 'Every' 35. Variants of 'Every' 36. Persons 37. Times and Places 38. Quantification in Context PART 4: QUANTIFICATIONAL INFERENCE 39. Quantificational Schemata 40. Predicates 41. Restraints on Introducing 42. Substitution Extended 43. Validity Extended 44. Equivalence Extended 45. Inconsistency Proofs 46. Logical Arguments 47. Identity and Singular Terms 48. Membership Index
