Mathematical Logic. Revised Edition.

by Quine

W. V. Quine’s systematic development of mathematical logic has been widely praised for the new material presented and for the clarity of its exposition. This revised edition, in which the minor inconsistencies observed since its first publication have been eliminated, will be welcomed by all students and teachers in mathematics and philosophy who are seriously concerned with modern logic.Max Black, in Mind , has said of this book, “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.”

Genres: Philosophy, Mathematics, Logic, Nonfiction, Science

Paperback

First published December 1, 1951

Reviews

[Franklin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as math, not philosophy. As philosophy, I wouldn't like it today. At the time Quine and Russell were the only philosophy I knew. The only author I wrote a fan letter to (I was 15, I think). He was kind enough to send back some monographs, including one about functor logic, proving that one could derive all math from an elementary logic using just two symbols, then explaining how that could be reduced to just one symbol. (Don't laugh at me, Amy, I was quite intrigued at the time.)

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose this is starting to show its age, but as a piece of system-building this is just amazing. As a piece of analytical philosophy even more so, though I doubt there are many around equipped to read and understand it as such.

If hard-core symbolic logic is your thing, give this a try, otherwise you'll get much much more out of Quine's more "chatty" works.