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Philosophical Logic
A basic introduction to the subject which addresses questions of truth and meaning, providing a basis for much of what is discussed elsewhere in philosophy. Up-to-date and comprehensive.
- GenresPhilosophy
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 23, 2022
Although a very dense book (which means reading it slowly for me at least) I generally found it illuminating. There are 7 chapters. The first lays out what Philosophical logic is, what makes a sound/unsound, valid/invalid argument, propositions, logic, predicates etc. It explores (particularly
relevant to science) whether truth is derived analytically or empirically (contingent) and whether our perception of reality when dealing with empiricism is valid or trust worthy.
A useful quote: "Philosophical logic is neither an axiomatic systems nor an empirical subject. It is not about how people do reason but about reasoning correctly. There is substantial difficulty about proving points in philosophical logic, and a great deal of disagreement"
Chapter 2 goes on to define basic things such as propositions, types of sentences such as declarative type sentence, reference and reference failure, statements etc. All important scene setting for later chapters.
Chapter 3 is essentially about determining truth through analytic-synthetic (such as in mathematics e.g. the ratio between a circle's diameter and circumference) or necessary-contingent (the earth is round i.e. need to see that the earth is round through observation). It
also discusses essentialism (what are the essential properties of things for them to exist).
Chapter 4 handles truth from a logical perspective by the use of truth tables with a very close examination of 'p and p is true' equivalence or difference. It then explores the interesting theories of truth mainly the correspondence and coherence theories which touches on concepts such as
a priori vs empirical knowledge. More so truth can vary by time and place. There are also other theories around truth such as the redundancy and semantic theories.
Chapter 5 Takes a deep dive into affirmative and negative propositions/statements. It also takes a look at contradictory statements, inconsistency and bad arguments.
Chapter 6 Discusses the nature of existence and the word 'exists' and highlights an unsettled debate about whether it is a predicate (a verb stating an attribute about a subject) or not i.e. a statement of an existential form i.e. does something exist or not. The section on what is real or not is very interesting and illuminating; are dragons in a story book real? Is monopoly money real? Are bank notes issued by the Bank of England real? Does being real have to be a noun or can it be anything with certain attributes or characteristics? The nature of identity is explored via numerical and qualitative identity.
Chapter 7
Explores the meaning of words via discussions on proper names and a 'natural kind' term. In exploring the meaning of words classification of names are explored e.g. classification by function. But in general this chapter raises more questions than answers in trying to answer meaning means. It even starts to veer into the nature of language itself.
I don't think I will 100% understand this topic of Philosophical Logic without attempting all of the end of chapter and end of book questions and looking at some of the further reading lists
relevant to science) whether truth is derived analytically or empirically (contingent) and whether our perception of reality when dealing with empiricism is valid or trust worthy.
A useful quote: "Philosophical logic is neither an axiomatic systems nor an empirical subject. It is not about how people do reason but about reasoning correctly. There is substantial difficulty about proving points in philosophical logic, and a great deal of disagreement"
Chapter 2 goes on to define basic things such as propositions, types of sentences such as declarative type sentence, reference and reference failure, statements etc. All important scene setting for later chapters.
Chapter 3 is essentially about determining truth through analytic-synthetic (such as in mathematics e.g. the ratio between a circle's diameter and circumference) or necessary-contingent (the earth is round i.e. need to see that the earth is round through observation). It
also discusses essentialism (what are the essential properties of things for them to exist).
Chapter 4 handles truth from a logical perspective by the use of truth tables with a very close examination of 'p and p is true' equivalence or difference. It then explores the interesting theories of truth mainly the correspondence and coherence theories which touches on concepts such as
a priori vs empirical knowledge. More so truth can vary by time and place. There are also other theories around truth such as the redundancy and semantic theories.
Chapter 5 Takes a deep dive into affirmative and negative propositions/statements. It also takes a look at contradictory statements, inconsistency and bad arguments.
Chapter 6 Discusses the nature of existence and the word 'exists' and highlights an unsettled debate about whether it is a predicate (a verb stating an attribute about a subject) or not i.e. a statement of an existential form i.e. does something exist or not. The section on what is real or not is very interesting and illuminating; are dragons in a story book real? Is monopoly money real? Are bank notes issued by the Bank of England real? Does being real have to be a noun or can it be anything with certain attributes or characteristics? The nature of identity is explored via numerical and qualitative identity.
Chapter 7
Explores the meaning of words via discussions on proper names and a 'natural kind' term. In exploring the meaning of words classification of names are explored e.g. classification by function. But in general this chapter raises more questions than answers in trying to answer meaning means. It even starts to veer into the nature of language itself.
I don't think I will 100% understand this topic of Philosophical Logic without attempting all of the end of chapter and end of book questions and looking at some of the further reading lists
Displaying 1 of 1 review