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Introduction to Logic: Predicate Logic
For courses in Introduction to Logic and Formal Logic. This clearly written volume covers symbolization, proofs, counterexamples, and truth trees. These topics are presented in graded steps, beginning with the symbolization of categorical propositions and concluding with the properties of relations. This new edition includes 'PredLogic,' a CD-ROM-based tutorial for students.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 15, 2019
When I discovered that this introduction to predicate logic presupposes knowledge of propositional logic, I thought that I had more work cut out for me than turned out to be the case. The book comes with a useful appendix that summarises what I needed to know about propositional logic. That, combined with my knowledge of Boolean logic from decades of computer programming, was enough for me to understand the contents of this book.
It's clearly written, with many examples. The examples are taken from various sources (with a prominence of quotes from 1990's US news stories) and are then examined to determine whether they're logically false or true according to the techniques described in the book.
There's a profusion of exercises for most of the chapters, and I did almost all of them. I spent more time on doing the exercises than actually reading the book, but doing the exercises, I believe, is what imparts understanding.
I did most of the exercises with the accompanying software. The book comes with a CD-ROM, and I do realise that many people may no longer have a CD-ROM drive. I do, fortunately, still have a single computer with a CD-ROM drive, and it turned out that one can simply copy the contents of the CD-ROM and run the software from a directory with that contents. Thus, I was able to copy the software to my main laptop and run it from there.
Apart from some memory leaks and a dated GUI, the software is splendid. It enabled me to do, and check, most of the exercises in the book without having a teacher to check my work. I highly recommend that you use the software if you read the book.
It's clearly written, with many examples. The examples are taken from various sources (with a prominence of quotes from 1990's US news stories) and are then examined to determine whether they're logically false or true according to the techniques described in the book.
There's a profusion of exercises for most of the chapters, and I did almost all of them. I spent more time on doing the exercises than actually reading the book, but doing the exercises, I believe, is what imparts understanding.
I did most of the exercises with the accompanying software. The book comes with a CD-ROM, and I do realise that many people may no longer have a CD-ROM drive. I do, fortunately, still have a single computer with a CD-ROM drive, and it turned out that one can simply copy the contents of the CD-ROM and run the software from a directory with that contents. Thus, I was able to copy the software to my main laptop and run it from there.
Apart from some memory leaks and a dated GUI, the software is splendid. It enabled me to do, and check, most of the exercises in the book without having a teacher to check my work. I highly recommend that you use the software if you read the book.
June 6, 2020
This is an excellent book. The book is great because it draws examples from everyday language. This gives you a lot of experience symbolizing natural language, which is very useful. Moreover, the book has a huge number of exercises for its size. You'd be missing out if you skipped the exercises in this book.
You will need to understand propositional logic before you can understand this book. This is so because predicate logic follows from propositional logic. In all but the most trivial examples, you will need propositional calculus to follow. If you don't understand basics, you can start with Pospesel's Propositional Logic book.
The system Pospesel uses is familiar to me. This is because it follows from his propositional logic book. In turn, the logic in his propositional logic book follows from E.J. Lemmon's system. The differences seem to be ergonomic.
The software that comes on the CDROM is a nice touch. If not for the proof checking, then for the symbolization help. It works in Windows 10 even if it seems made for Windows 95. It crashes once in a while after hours of use, so save your work often.
The book isn't new, so some examples are a little dated, but they serve as well now as I'm sure they did decades ago. I would adore a modern adaptation of this book with fresh examples and updated software. This may not be likely as the author is no longer alive. Notwithstanding, this book series is awesome.
You will need to understand propositional logic before you can understand this book. This is so because predicate logic follows from propositional logic. In all but the most trivial examples, you will need propositional calculus to follow. If you don't understand basics, you can start with Pospesel's Propositional Logic book.
The system Pospesel uses is familiar to me. This is because it follows from his propositional logic book. In turn, the logic in his propositional logic book follows from E.J. Lemmon's system. The differences seem to be ergonomic.
The software that comes on the CDROM is a nice touch. If not for the proof checking, then for the symbolization help. It works in Windows 10 even if it seems made for Windows 95. It crashes once in a while after hours of use, so save your work often.
The book isn't new, so some examples are a little dated, but they serve as well now as I'm sure they did decades ago. I would adore a modern adaptation of this book with fresh examples and updated software. This may not be likely as the author is no longer alive. Notwithstanding, this book series is awesome.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews