Classical and Nonclassical Logics: An Introduction to the Mathematics of Propositions (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Readers with no previous knowledge of formal logic will find it more useful to begin with Chapter 2..." (more)
Key Phrases: powerset interpretation, assumed inference rule, weak reductio, Lewis Carroll (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

We warmly welcome this book as an example of how the mathematical way of thinking can be made available and pleasant to a large group of students.
(Solomon Marcus Zentralblatt MATH )

Review

Offering a rich combination and breadth of material, this book is practically an encyclopedia of schools of logic; it is a convenient reference, lucidly describing complex ideas in various schools of logic that are traditionally not treated in a single book. The writing is fluent, clear, and detailed; the exposition is solid and successfully clarifies topics that are usually difficult for beginners to understand.
(Iraj Kalantari, Western Illinois University )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 536 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (August 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691122792
• ISBN-13: 978-0691122793
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,338,078 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good to teach or learn logic from, November 2, 2006

By	Andrés Villaveces "avn" (Bogotá, Colombia) - See all my reviews

I have been using quite intensively this book as part of a Logic for Philosophy Majors Class I am teaching this semester in Bogotá. The approach in the book is excellent - from the beginning it emphasizes various logics (Classical, Constructive, Fuzzy, Comparative, Relevance among others) with many examples and classical motivations (Aristotle on relevance and comparison of truth, etc.).

I particularly like the treatment of the semantics in the book - the fact it does two-valued, three-valued, integer valued, set-valued and topological-valued semantics for various logics. The treatment of the semantics is clear enough - it may be taught for second-semester students at my University.

I like a bit less the treatment of syntax - my impression is that from chapter 12 on, the book seems to provide a picture of syntax less clear, at least for the class I teach this with. That part of the book is very good for self-study and for examples, but my impression is that the treatment of syntactic aspectics is not at the level of the treatment of semantic aspects (superb in this book).

All in all, my impression is that Schechter's Classical and Nonclassical Logics (...) is excellent either as a textbook (though I prefer it in the semantics "half"), as a self-study book or as a basic clear reference of many different logics.

Warning: the book - as the complete title says - is centered on Propositional Calculus - there is essentially no Predicate Calculus. At first that seemed strange to me, but I now understand a bit better the possible reasons for the author's decision. That does not make per se the book worse or better - there is already a lot of material covered - if the author had tried to include Predicate Calculus as well, the book would have probably doubled in volume and it is not clear that it could accomplish what it does: presenting on equal footing many logics, giving the reader many tools and examples to see the differences and the motivations of the various logics.