Logic: A Very Short IntroductionLogic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining how modern formal logic deals with issues ranging from the existence of God and the reality of time to paradoxes of probability and decision theory. Along the way, the basics of formal logic are explained in simple, non-technical terms, showing that logic is a powerful and exciting part of modern philosophy. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. |
Contents
Validity What Follows from What? | 1 |
Truth Functions Or Not? | 7 |
Names and Quantifiers Is Nothing Something? | 17 |
Descriptions and Existence Did the Greeks Worship Zeus? | 24 |
SelfReference What is this Chapter About? | 31 |
Necessity and Possibility What Will be Must be? | 38 |
Conditionals Whats in an If? | 47 |
The Future and the Past Is Time Real? | 55 |
Probability The Strange Case of the Missing Reference Class | 78 |
Inverse Probability You cant be Indifferent About it | 86 |
Great Expectations | 94 |
A Little History and Some Further Reading | 102 |
Glossary | 111 |
Problems | 117 |
121 | |
123 | |
Identity and Change Is Anything Ever the Same? | 63 |
Vagueness How do you Stop Sliding down a Slippery Slope? | 70 |
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Common terms and phrases
amoeba Argument to Design Aristotle's argument bike Black Thunder compound tenses conclusion conditional probability conjunction consider cosmos Decision Theory deductively valid disjunction evaluate its validity example existence F F F F T F fact following inference given Graham Priest grammatical Hence identity inference is valid intuitions invalid inverse probabilities John kind last chapter Leibniz's Law Let us write liar paradox logicians Logicians call Main Ideas McTaggart's argument modal operators modern logic modus ponens Names and Quantifiers negation number of days Pascal's Wager person who won philosophy pigs can fly possible situations associated pr(a pr(b pr(w predicate premisses are true Principle of Indifference problem Queen is rich rain reason reference class s₂ self-reference Short Introduction simple someone sorites sorites paradox suppose Symbolize the following tense operators things true or false truth functions truth table truth value value F whole sentences won the race