Logic for Philosophy

by Theodore Sider

Designed for both advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this groundbreaking work by a leading philosopher of logic is ideal for courses in logical literacy. Logic for Philosophy covers basic approaches to logic (including proof theory and especially model theory); extensions of standard logic that are important in philosophy; and some elementary philosophy of logic. Easily accessible to students without extensive mathematics backgrounds, this lucid and vividly written text emphasizes breadth of coverage rather than depth. Featuring numerous exercises, answers, and helpful hints, it concisely and effectively introduces students to the logic they need to know in order to read contemporary philosophy journal articles.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Textbooks, Academic

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Adam Omelianchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

We used this text for our advanced logic class, and like all logic books there is a good, a bad, and an ugly. First the good. Sider is an awesome writer; every chapter begins with a wonderfully clear exposition of each topic in philosophical logic. I was especially impressed by his chapter on counterfactuals; every student of those strange conditionals should start here rather than with Lewis or Stalnaker (move on to those guys after reading this!). The bad: like most logicians, Sider assumes the notation he is using will be intuitive to the reader--it is not. I doubt I could have grasped the subtleties of his method, which he repeats in every chapter, without the aid of a professor. The ugly: there are some egregious typos, one which comes to mind is on page 61 where he is proving a major rule of inference (he leaves off a negation sign).

The great thing about this book is that it covers all the major topics of deductive logic one finds in technical analytic philosophy, and it is helpful to survey if one needs a refresher on whatever one is studying at the moment. While I continue to believe there is no such thing as a good logic text book, I do think Sider's is worth owning as it can be referenced easily whenever one has a question about this or that aspect of first and second order logic.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book covering metalogic for many logics used in philosophy. It begins with propositional and ends with quantified modal logic. In-between, other non-standard and even "devient" logics are covered, as well as tense logic and counterfactual logic. The book is not introductory, but provides a good introduction to many of the logics previously mentioned. The reader can expect to do proofs by mathematical induction as well as prove soundness and completeness for several systems. Philosophical issues are not the focus, so this is not a philosophy of logic book, but Sider does briefly address some of them as they arise. Sider does seem to be a little heavy on the formalism, needlessly so in places, and also does virtually every proof by "reductio" when (a) he could have proved it directly (which is more interesting) and (b) sometimes he doesn't really do reductios but rather proof by contraposition, or simply assuming ¬p and getting p such that p & ¬p form the contradictory pair (which is not, technically, a reductio), yet he calls them "reductios."

[M.L. Candelario · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book destroyed my brain. In a good way. It seems like a good intermediate book (one in which the treatment of logic assumes you already know the basics and yet it also isn't so advanced that you're essentially just doing straight logic). Sider's explanations, though often dense, are crafted well and are therefore understandable to a layperson like myself.

[Felipe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Logic for Philosophy is a book intended as an introduction to logic for contemporary philosophy students. It focuses on various kinds of logic, ranging from propositional logic to two-dimensional modal logic. In each of these, logic is viewed through a mathematical lens, with strict definitions of the grammar and semantics of each system.

The biggest issue with Sider's book is its mathematical rigor. As an engineering student with a background in digital logic, I didn't struggle so much, however the mathematical detail likely makes the book largely unattractive to the actual audience: the philosophy majors. Additionally, this rigor also discouraged me to engage deeply with the work, as the time requirements to fully grasp some sections was untenable. As a result, I followed closely the chapter on propositional logic, which I was most familiar with, and skimmed through the rest.

In short, Logic for Philosophy is a solid, theorem based approach to various logical systems and deserves your attention, if that’s the kind of thing you’re interested in. As a general introduction to logic, this might be one to avoid.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise and approachable textbook that covers the key areas in logic, including some extensions and deviations thereto that are particularly interesting for philosophy. I used it for an intermediate logic course and found it just at the right level.

As is quite common in books of this genre, several proofs throughout the book were left as exercises; these were difficult enough to be interesting whilst simple enough to be comprehendable upon a close reading of the chapter. Overall, the book is quite dense at times but each sentence is well-presented and well-referenced. Hence you won't waste your time: even for those lacking a background in logic, a month of well-directed study should be enough to master most of the concepts here.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book I went through when I first started studying logic several years ago! The goal is to educate you in the language of logic and it's technical aspects so that you will be able to handle most papers in Academic philosophy. The amount of depth handled in one book is worth the price. It not only analyzes the central subjects of logic, but also fundamental elements of formal logic like the nature of "consequence" and "entailment". I highly recommend this for intermediate students in philosophy!

[Gina Herald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise and approachable reader for modal logic. Exercises build up on each other. Would have appreciated tips on how to extract logical claims from semantics and the perils therein but otherwise the prevailing book on the subject.

[Bene Pétursson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic slightly advanced introduction to somewhat more creative logic. Good to just learn a bunch of languages in a short amount of time, very clear and not overly basic. Introduces concepts at a good rate and quickly builds up on them. Highly recommend!

[Braden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book by Sider that in my opinion achieves its intended purpose. Lots of comprehensive and challenging problems. Some things could be explained better or at least given more time, but for the scope of the book Sider’s work is still very impressive.

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[Arturo Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

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