Socratic Logic 3e: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles [Hardcover]

Peter Kreeft (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 410 pages
• Publisher: St. Augustines Press; 3 edition (August 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587318059
• ISBN-13: 978-1587318054
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter J. Kreeft (Ph.D., Fordham University) is professor of philosophy at Boston College where he has taught since 1965. A popular lecturer, he has also taught at many other colleges, seminaries and educational institutions in the eastern United States. Kreeft has written more than sixty-seven books, including The Best Things in Life, Christianity for Modern Pagans, Fundamentals of the Faith and The Handbook of Christian Apologetics.

Dr. Kreeft's MP3 audio lectures can be purchased on Amazon, such as
"Christianity in Lord of the Rings".

Free articles, audio lectures, the speaking schedule and more info from Dr. Peter Kreeft can be found at his popular web site:
http://www.peterkreeft.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Delivers What It Promises, October 16, 2008

By 

Dr. Doctor - See all my reviews

This review is from: Socratic Logic 3e: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles (Hardcover)

I purchased and read this Book with the intention of passing it to my thirteen year old Son. I chose this book because I know the author and agree with the points he made in the preface.

"Once upon a time in Middle earth, two things were different(1) most students learned "old Logic" and (2) they could think, read, write, organize, and argue better than they can today."

The author is Peter Kreeft, a philosophy professor, writer and renowned apologist whose smooth, experienced, writing style flows over the pages punctuated only by his sense of humor. In the introduction, Kreeft explains his intended goals and why this book is different, and he delivers on his promises. For example his chapter on material fallacies is indeed comprehensive and suffers from no "oversimplification".

The book is organized with versatility in mind and can be used by a teacher, a self-learner and a budding philosophy student. The chapters, and the material within them, are well organized with adequate repetition of important concepts. The author's clear and methodical approach is representative of his mastery of the subject and his clean thought processes.

There are simple exercises in the book with thirty pages of even-numbered answers. The point of studying Aristotelian Logic is to apply the concepts to everyday life. Life is where you find the exercises of Aristotelian Logic and the reason to study it. There's no better teacher than the one found here. If I were to complain about any aspect of the book, it would be the near non-existent index.

Lastly, my thirteen year old son has started the book and is enjoying the content and the humor. He admittedly needs assistance with the philosophical (P) sections, but hey, He's thirteen.

So, Who's the target audience of this book? Anyone who wishes to think, speak and write in a coherent, comprehensive manner.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Drinking from a Cool Mountain Stream, March 18, 2009

By 

Thomas L. Cook (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Socratic Logic 3e: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles (Hardcover)

Decades may pass before this book is recognized for what it is: the most straightforward, honest, and philosophically illuminating logic text in print. It is hard to fathom how rare and useful it is for a man as well-read as Kreeft, and as orthodox, to sift through most historical and modern logic texts for us, and to present all the classic features of logic, and the salient departures from the classic approach to logic. Moreover he does this in one highly accessible, lively, readable volume. This book is even clear (and fun) enough to avoid intimidating an interested middle or high school student. It takes a uniquely dedicated and selfless teacher to 'condescend' as charitably as Kreeft does here- this book is bursting with palpable, intellectual energy on even simple topics, and overflowing with helpful examples on more difficult ones.

This book ought to be also a standard, near-required text for Catholic and Christian colleges. It may be some time before that happens, but it will happen, because it needs to.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A breath of fresh air, January 1, 2009

By 

John Valenzuela "JV" (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Socratic Logic 3e: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles (Hardcover)

This book is a great alternative to modern logic texts, if you're looking for a text that treats logic as more than mere symbolic manipulation then this is the book for you!