Best of
Logic

2008

Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas On The Middle Way: With Commentary By Gyel-Tsap


Aryadeva - 2008
    Both Nagarjuna and Aryadeva urge those who want to understand reality to induce direct experience of ultimate truth through philosophic inquiry and reasoning. Aryadeva's text is more than a commentary on Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Middle Way because it also explains the extensive paths associated with conventional truths. The Four Hundred Stanzas is one of the fundamental works of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, and Gyel-tsap's commentary is arguably the most complete and important of the Tibetan commentaries on it. Mahayana practitioners must eliminate not only obstructions to liberation but also obstructions to the perfect knowledge of all phenomena. This requires a powerful understanding of selflessness, coupled with a vast accumulation of merit, or positive energy, resulting from the kind of love, compassion, and altruistic intention cultivated by bodhisattvas. The first half of the text focuses on the development of merit by showing how to correct distorted ideas about conventional reality and how to overcome disturbing emotions. The second half explains the nature of ultimate reality that all phenomena are empty of intrinsic existence. Gyel-tsap's commentary on Aryadeva's text takes the form of a lively dialogue that uses the words of Aryadeva to answer hypothetical and actual assertions questions and objections. Geshe Sonam Rinchen has provided additional commentary to the sections on conventional reality, elucidating their relevance for contemporary life. This is a republished version of Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas.

Logical Labyrinths


Raymond M. Smullyan - 2008
    It serves as a bridge from the author's puzzle books to his technical writing in the fascinating field of mathematical logic. Using the logic of lying and truth-telling, the author introduces the readers to informal reasoning preparing them for the formal study of symbolic logic, from propositional logic to first-order logic, a subject that has many important applications to philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. The book includes a journey through the amazing labyrinths of infinity, which have stirred the imagination of mankind as much, if not more, than any other subject.

Biblical Logic: In Theory & Practice


Joel McDurmon - 2008
    Whether coming from skeptics, atheist, leftists, cults, or even other Christians, poor logic and dubious reasoning deserve exposure and correction. In his new book, Biblical Logic, Joel McDurmon returns to God's Word to recover logic and critical thinking from the hands of the enemy, and to expose the fallacies of unbelief and unbiblical ideas.But is the Bible really the place to turn for logic? Is not logic the domain of scholars and philosophers? The British philosopher John Locke long ago answered this common misconception: God has not been so sparing to men to make them barely two-legged creatures, and left it to Aristotle to make them rational. In other words, logic existed and people reasoned and used the critical faculties of their minds long before any philosopher came along to teach about it. God created logic and reasoning as He created man, and He created it for man, and therefore we should find it reasonable that God's Word has something to say - if not a lot to say - about logic, rationality, and good judgment.Christ has made us priests and kings (Rev. 1:6). He has determined that His saints shall judge the world, and even judge angels (1 Cor. 6:23), and He has thoroughly equipped us to perform these tasks. God's Word sets the standard of reasoning and law by which we shall judge, and the Bible teaches us this standard - a standard we must follow and to which we ourselves must give account. This new book, Biblical Logic, returns to Gods word to find that standard, and to recover the God-given directives for faithful logic and critical thinking. By this standard, and by this example, Gods saints - you - can indeed discern and judge the world as God has commanded.

From a Geometrical Point of View: A Study of the History and Philosophy of Category Theory


Jean-Pierre Marquis - 2008
    The main thesis is that Klein's Erlangen program in geometry is in fact a particular instance of a general and broad phenomenon revealed by category theory. The volume starts with Eilenberg and Mac Lane's work in the early 1940's and follows the major developments of the theory from this perspective. Particular attention is paid to the philosophical elements involved in this development. The book ends with a presentation of categorical logic, some of its results and its significance in the foundations of mathematics.From a Geometrical Point of View aims to provide its readers with a conceptual perspective on category theory and categorical logic, in order to gain insight into their role and nature in contemporary mathematics. It should be of interest to mathematicians, logicians, philosophers of mathematics and science in general, historians of contemporary mathematics, physicists and computer scientists.

Between Saying and Doing: Towards an Analytic Pragmatism


Robert B. Brandom - 2008
    It investigates the relations between the meaning of linguistic expressions and their use. Giving due weight both to what one has to do in order to count as saying various things and to what one needs to say in order to specify those doings, makes it possible to shed new light on the relations between semantics (the theory of the meanings `f utterances and the contents of thoughts) and pragmatics (the theory of the functional relations among meaningful or contentful items). Among the vocabularies whose interrelated use and meaning are considered are: logical, indexical, modal, normative, and intentional vocabulary. As the argument proceeds, new ways of thinking about the classic analytic core programs of empiricism, naturalism, and functionalism are offered, as well as novel insights about the ideas of artificial intelligence, the nature of logic, and intentional relations between subjects and objects.

Saving Truth from Paradox


Hartry Field - 2008
    Hartry Field presents a new approach to the paradoxes and provides a systematic and detailed account of the main competing approaches.Part One examines Tarski's, Kripke's, and Lukasiewicz's theories of truth, and discusses validity and soundness, and vagueness. Part Two considers a wide range of attempts to resolve the paradoxes within classical logic. In Part Three Field turns to non-classical theories of truth that that restrict excluded middle. He shows that there are theories of this sort in which the conditionals obey many of the classical laws, and that all the semantic paradoxes (not just the simplest ones) can be handled consistently with the naive theory of truth. In Part Four, these theories are extended to the property-theoretic paradoxes and to various other paradoxes, and some issues about the understanding of the notion of validity are addressed. Extended paradoxes, involving the notion of determinate truth, are treated very thoroughly, and a number of different arguments that the theories lead to revenge problems are addressed. Finally, Part Five deals with dialetheic approaches to the paradoxes: approaches which, instead of restricting excluded middle, accept certain contradictions but alter classical logic so as to keep them confined to a relatively remote part of the language. Advocates of dialetheic theories have argued them to be better than theories that restrict excluded middle, for instance over issues related to the incompleteness theorems and in avoiding revenge problems. Field argues that dialetheists' claims on behalf of their theories are quite unfounded, and indeed that on some of these issues all current versions of dialetheism do substantially worse than the best theories that restrict excluded middle.

Cracking the Communication Code Workbook: The Secret to Speaking Your Mate's Language (Focus on the Family Books)


Emerson Eggerichs - 2008
    Emerson Eggerichs, "most spouses don't know that they speak two different languages. They are sending each other messages in 'code,' but they won't crack that code until they see that she listens to hear the language of love and he listens to hear the language of respect." Dr. Eggerichs' best-selling book, Love and Respect, launched a revolution in how couples relate to each other. Now with the Cracking the Communication Code companion workbook, the message of this hardcover trade book can be studied and applied whether for a group or for individual couples. The result will be better communication, mutual understnding, and a successful godly marriage.

Nyāya Theory Of Knowledge


Satischandra Chatterjee - 2008
    Composed of Nyaya theory, and its various factors such as Pramana doubt [samsya], eror [viparyyaya], and hypothetical argument [tarka].

Handbook of the History of Logic, Volume 4: British Logic in the Nineteenth Century


John Hayden Woods - 2008
    "British Logic in the Nineteenth Century" is indispensable reading and a definitive research resource for anyone with an interest in the history of logic. - Detailed and comprehensive chapters covering the entire range of modal logic - Contains the latest scholarly discoveries and interpretative insights that answer many questions in the field of logic

Metaphor in Discourse


Elena Semino - 2008
    In this book Elena Semino discusses metaphor as a common linguistic occurrence, which is varied in its textual appearance, versatile in the functions it may perform, and central to many different types of communication, from informal interaction to political speeches. She discusses the use of metaphor across a variety of texts and genres from literature, politics, science, education, advertising and the discourse of mental illness. Each chapter includes detailed case studies focusing on specific texts, from election leaflets to specialist scientific articles. Also included is a detailed consideration of corpus (computer-based) methods of analysis. Wide-ranging and informative, this book will be invaluable to those interested in metaphor from a range of disciplines.

Elements of Logic (Revised)


Richard Whately - 2008
    Yet today it again offers useful principles for teaching reasoning and critical thinking to undergraduates, helping them to understand that common reasoning patterns are a constant across subjects and contexts. As the linear reasoning patterns of the inductive scientific method are fading, students are constantly exposed to information that comes in short bursts and is dominated by visual and aural stimuli. Those who must create models of reasoning to fit the electronic media may find guidance in this work.

Materials for the Study of Aryadeva, Dharmapala and Chandrakirti (2 Vols.)


Tom J.F. Tillemans - 2008
    by leading scholar