Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction

by Howard Kahane, Paul Tidman

This text is designed for instructors who want a complete set of rules for first order predicate (Quantifier) logic, with identity, and a good range of other material. The authors approach through all of the editions has made this text the easiest for students to learn from among modern symbolic texts.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction, Mathematics, College, Reference

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Howard Kahane (19 April 1928 – 2 May 2001) was a professor of philosophy at Bernard M. Baruch College in New York City. He was noted for promoting a popular, and non-mathematical, approach to logic, now known as informal logic. His best known publication in that area is his textbook Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Use of Reason in Everyday Life. Another textbook of his that saw posthumous publication is Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction.

Kahane graduated with a BA (1954) and master's degree (1958) from the University of California at Los Angeles, and received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962. Before Baruch College, Kahane taught at Whitman College, the University of Kansas, American University and the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Reviews

[Happy Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best intro textbook that I encountered during the time that I taught introductory symbolic logic. If I were to teach logic again, I would definitely look at the latest edition of this text.

The advantage over other intro symbolic logic texts is that it requires students to understand what they are doing in order to do proofs. (The previous textbook I used, not one that I chose but one that I was required to teach from, only taught students to crank through proofs and did not emphasize the ideas at all.)

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the textbook for the one and only course I was assigned to teach while a T.A. at Loyola University Chicago. Comments about that are included in the review of the Instructor's Manual for Logic and Philosophy. About this particular introductory text I have no particular feelings. Naturally, I preferred the Tapscott text used when, a couple of years prior, I was introducted to symbolic logic.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

After taking a college intro course in logic I was eager to learn more. This book was a wonderful introduction to symbolic logic, and I was able to get through most of the sentential logic section (first half of the book) over break. It's full of exercises, and it explains how to do things step by step. If you want to study symbolic logic on your own, then I recommend this book.

[Sarah Schoonmaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was most helpful to me learning symbolic logic. The explanations and examples are pretty clear compared to most other logic books.

[Gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a nice book for the course. easy to read. truly made the concepts easy to understand. without it, i dont think i would have gotten the grade i did in Logic.

[Alistair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this some while ago. An old girlfriend who was more into mathematical logic was more the inspiration behind me getting this.


In progress

Contents

Preface



Chapter One:Introduction
1. The Elements of an Argument - 1
2. Deduction and Induction - 4
3. Argument Forms - 6
4. Truth and Validity - 8
5. Soundness - 11
6. Consistency - 11
7. Consistency and Validity Compared - 12
8. Contexts of Discovery and Justification - 14
Key Terms - 15

Chapter Two: Truth-Functions - Page 16
1. Atomic and Compound Sentences - 16
2. Truth-Functions - 17
3. Conjunctions - 18
4. Variables and Constants - 20
5. Negations - 21
6. Parentheses and Brackets - 23
7. Disjunctions - 24
8. "Not Both" and "Neither...Nor" - 27
9. Material Conditionals - 29
10. Material Biconditionals - 31
11. "Only If" and "Unless" - 33
12. Symbolizing Complex Sentences - 35
Key Terms - 41

Chapter Three: Truth Tables - Page 43
1. Computing Truth-Values - 43
2. Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingent Sentences - 48
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Chapter Four: Proofs
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Chapter Five: Conditional and Indirect Proofs - 108
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[Mon Khemar]

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