The Languages of Logic

by Samuel Guttenplan

`Guttenplan is an exceptional writer. Few textbooks are written as lucidly and coherently as this one is. The book is very well organized. Simple, commonsensical themes that are introduced early in the text become the bases for the subsequent development of highly technical concepts. This is an extremely well-written, well-organized, and well-conceived book that can be highly recommended to philosophy students and to anyone else who wants, not merely to manipulate symbols, but to gain an insight into the languages of logic.' Teaching Philosophy `The Languages of Logic' is an introductory logic textbook with a difference. Working from the conviciton that formal logic is comething to be learned and then used, rather than suffered and forgotten, Samuel Guttenplan explains the main concepts and techniques with their ultimate application clearly in mind.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Richard Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, in many ways, a very boring book. But it gets 5 stars because it achieves exactly what it sets out to do in a clear and straightforward way. Logic is a subject it is very easy to get bogged down in. Guttenplan has essentially written a workbook, that can be worked through to build your knowledge, (in many ways similar to the maths text books I remember at school). As long as you take the trouble to work through each section in order and thoroughly then you will get to the end and be able to use logical "languages" competently. There are many interesting discussions and applications of logic - that is not the purpose of this book, it sets out to get you to a place where you can appreciate and start to join in those discussions.

[Laura Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this invaluable when studying logic. Clear concise explanations, well organised with helpful examples. I would highly recommend it.

[Gerard Mullan · Rating 2 out of 5]

After several months I finally worked my way through this one. It is a challenge on two fronts.

I picked it up to go into more detail on primitives and class quantifiers, and these it explains reasonably well. The book does, actually, work exceptionally well as a primer to foundational logic right up to the level of predicate.
After that, it began to fall off the rails for me. There were too many interesting jumps that advised "That won't be discussed here, so consult the Reading List." I suppose what of what I liked about it as a breakdown up until that point was a reasonable level of self-containment, and what began to be lost was increasing reliance on steps taken as granted. This seemed to me to reject the outlined mission of the book, which maybe could have been achieved with a different, more tentative probing of predicate and the limits of higher orders to capture natural languages.

Another thing that irked me a bit was the Exercises, which did not have an accompanying Answer Sheet. Hacking's Concise Introduction to Logic served me better in that I could check my reasoning as I was going along, and notice where I was making mistakes. The idea that learning logic is about learning an attitude as much as a body of knowledge. LoL did not offer the same experience, and that detracted from what it might have been.

It is not a bad book. I certainly added a few more terms to my awareness and updated my understanding of Predicate, as well as answering those initial questions I had when I opened the book. But it is not a winning introduction to Logic for a college initiate, as it set out to be.

[Nathan Ormond · Rating 4 out of 5]

As sort of dry as any other logic book but I do commend the way that the author takes into account trying to get the reader to learn and take on board the ideas of logic as a new 'language' etc...

I really liked the authors narrative throughout its just such a dry subject matter!

[Alireza Behzadnia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guttenplan achieves what he promises, teaching you some basic formative logic! The book is written as plainly as possible with exercises to help you get used to some basic formative logic. A must have for all those who are starting to learn about formative logic. As for those with some basic knowledge in this area, you might find most of the text redundant and about half of the book useless. I found myself skimming through a big junk of the book, trying to find things that I can actually learn something new.

If you have the patience and the will to go through books like Logic Primer which is available for free online, you may want to reconsider getting this book. On the other hand, if you are having difficulties getting around formative logic and imperatives, this might be your go-to-book !

[Luther Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great intro for me to symbolic logic. It uses visual aids for logical "situations" which I found helpful. It goes at an easy pace, but takes you through Sentential & Predicate logic.

I didn't like the deduction system used...it may be me but I found it confusing how all the rules were used. I could follow the deductions, that is, but I didn't always believe that individual inferences were covered. I suspect that's my lack however...

I would recommend for a non-technical beginner like myself.

[Linda (un)Conventional Bookworms · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very helpful, but I am still not fluent in PL, and I wonder what else I can do to get it all together before my exam in January...