Elementary Logic: Revised Edition [Paperback]

W. V. Quine (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674244516 | ISBN-13: 978-0674244511 | Publication Date: October 15, 1980 | Edition: Revised

Now much revised since its first appearance in 1941, this book, despite its brevity, is notable for its scope and rigor. It provides a single strand of simple techniques for the central business of modern logic. Basic formal concepts are explained, the paraphrasing of words into symbols is treated at some length, and a testing procedure is given for truth-function logic along with a complete proof procedure for the logic of quantifiers. Fully one third of this revised edition is new, and presents a nearly complete turnover in crucial techniques of testing and proving, some change of notation, and some updating of terminology. The study is intended primarily as a convenient encapsulation of minimum essentials, but concludes by giving brief glimpses of further matters.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A masterpiece of clarity and analysis, setting forth at once briefly and comprehensively an introduction to formal logic that few can match. (Philosophical Studies )

For Quine, of course, the territory of logic seems but an extension of his own back yard, so assuredly does he walk there where others tread only with brainracking caution. And as he is both master innovator and master explicator, with a masterful prose style to boot, any work of his is a painless necessity. (Choice )

It will serve the purpose of inculcating, by precept and example, standards of clarity and precision which are, even in formal logic, more often pursued than achieved . Viewed as a whole, the system of logic explained in this book comes nearer than any previous attempt to conforming with the regulative ideals of the mathematical logician...This advance in unification and deductive elegance is not achieved at the expense of rigour; while the striking nature of the gain in the conciseness of the whole may be verified by any reader who will compare the length of this book with that of the corresponding sections in Principia... Every section of this book provides evidence of rare skill, both in research and communication; it deserves to be read and read again by all who have a serious interest in mathematical logic.
--Max Black (Mind )

Combines exemplary clarity and precision with an unusual vividness and originality in style which actually make the study of the work a fascinating adventure--no small achievement in the reputedly dullest and most barren field of scientific research.
--Carl G. Hempel (Philosophic Abstracts )

About the Author

W. V. Quine was Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University. He wrote twenty-one books, thirteen of them published by Harvard University Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press; Revised edition (October 15, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674244516
• ISBN-13: 978-0674244511
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Introductory Textbook of Logic, October 13, 2000

By 

Dragos Bucurenci (Bucharest, Romania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elementary Logic: Revised Edition (Paperback)

I am surprised to be the first one to write a review about this book. However, I can see how this happened - the author himself writes in his preface to this last edition: "Publisher's samples of fifty-five logic textbooks have accumulated in my office, all introductory and in English. Quantification theory or the first-order predicate calculus is covered in one way or another in most of them. Forty years ago it was covered in none." Forty years ago W. O. Quine published his "Elementary Logic" and set some standards in Logic. I would only want to stress the fact that the good thing about this book is not only that it was the first of this kind, chronologically speaking, but that it still is the first, from a logical point of view (this is the title of another one of Quine's books). Usual readers may not realize that the standards that Quine set forty years ago are still the best that one can find in his attempt to learn Logic. I haven't read a better introductory textbook of Logic and I recommend it to anyone who really wants to understand how the Science of all Sciences (as the medieval philosophers called Logic) works.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overly Complicated For Such a Simple Topic, November 28, 2010

By 

David Milliern "Velkar182" (Mitchell, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elementary Logic: Revised Edition (Paperback)

I am disappointed with this book. I have taken symbolic logic, mathematical, et cetera, at university and I found this book to be unnecessarily confusing. I think what Quine was trying to do was teach symbolic logic in a way that would feel less imposing to the reader by using more words than symbols. I don't think he goes into enough depth either. I recommend this book to people who would like this approach, but I think this book is the equivalent of 30 pages of most texts on logic. There is nothing said about A,E,I and O proposition or things like existential import. Don't get me wrong, I think this book is too short to accomplish this; I am not saying that Quine was sloppy. I am simply saying that this book does not teach the bare minimum in the way of preparing someone for what they need to know after a course in "Introductory Logic." Therefore, this book suits the needs of very few people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful refresher, bad intro, December 7, 2010

By 

Alfredo Watkins "Fredo" (San Bernardino, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elementary Logic: Revised Edition (Paperback)

Nobody would deny Quine's greatness and status as a revolutionary and seminal philosopher. However, he never was exactly the sort of philosopher that appealed to the average person. I would never recommend Quine's Elementary Logic book for a beginner. This work (at least my edition) uses sort of outdated symbols. Most importantly, Quine tends to make things much harder than they really are. His explanation in terms of schemata are not very useful, and would be confusing for someone who's not already familiar with logic. The one good thing about this book is that it explains quantification pretty decently, albeit in an out-dated fashion. As another reviewer said though, what Quine describes here could be condensed into the first couple of chapters of a formal logic book.

This *would* be useful for somebody who wanted to do a refresher on the basics of logic, but only after they're at least familiar with formal logic already.