Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) | Graham Priest

Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) | Graham Priest | A Very Logical Introduction

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Logic: A Very Shor...

	Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) Graham Priest Oxford University Press, USA, 2001 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Logic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining how modern formal logic deals with issues ranging from the existence of God and the reality of time to paradoxes of probability and decision theory. Along the way, the basics of formal logic are explained in simple, non-technical terms, showing that logic is a powerful and exciting part of modern philosophy.

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It'll make your brain hurt......but it's a good hurt!

I've never studied logic before so this seemed like a good place to start. I don't know how you could possibly get more information into a little book this size! It's possibly the best value in a book that I've ever seen. If there's anything else to the field of logic that isn't here then I don't want to know. But be prepared to spend some time reading it.....you'll need to keep a notepad handy and you'll definitely need to re-read many sections more than once to get the full understanding. BUT....when done I can guarantee you that you'll be glad you did it. This is an excellent little book and is worth more than $10.

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A Very Logical Introduction

Another great entry in the Very Short Introduction series. Priest not only explains logic, he makes it both more interesting and more informative by applying it to an amazingly varied collection of topics. Among the subjects discussed are fatalism, the reality or unreality of time, vagueness, arguments for the existence of God, and paradoxes of self-reference. He covers both deduction and induction, and even includes a section on modal logic. And his analysis of the material conditional is excellent. All this in just a little more than a hundred pages. Very highly recommended.

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Concise, Clear, and Interesting

Graham Priest's short introduction to logic is a wonderful read. One expects a book on logic to be dreadfully boring, but Priest applies his logic to several interesting philosophical arguments, showing that logic can be useful and fun to use.

The book was a perfect length, and Priest does not spend much time covering each topic. Luckily, not much time is needed. Most of the ideas are easily grasped, and I, for one, was grateful that he did not dwell on elementary ideas. This forces the reader to utilize his or her own brainpower, and to better absorb the ideas and to begin thinking logically.

Even though I felt the book was sufficiently long enough for one to get the basic idea of each topic, it certainly didn't allow for any amazing depth. The book, however, does not advertise depth, so it delivers its promise to offer a basic introduction to logic. It is certainly a wonderful start for any beginner.

As much as I applaud the short length of the book in terms of explaining the technical aspects of logic, I was sorely saddened that there was not more room to attack more logic puzzles concerning the existence of God or other philosophical concepts. I found his examinations of those arguments intensely interesting and a good way to hold the reader's attention.

Any beginner who is interested in logic, yet who doesn't know where to start with such a daunting subject, should definitely start here.

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A logical choice...

Graham Priest is author of several books on logic, including 'An Introduction to Non-Classical Logic' and 'Towards Non-Being: The Logic And Metaphysics Of Intentionality'. He has experience as a professor of logic at the University of Queensland in helping to determine the needs of those who are in need of logic help. This book, part of the Very Short Introductions series of Oxford University, is both an introduction and a refresher for those who have had logic before. Because of its brevity, it might be a bit too condensed for those looking for a logic course; however, used together with a larger text (Copi's logic book is the one I used in my early logic days), this VSI book provides good supplemental information and helps clarify key points.

This book provides an introduction both to symbolic logic as well as linguistic logic. Issues such as probability, truth and fact statements, conditional statements, decision theory and validity are all presented in clear, concise ways. There are fourteen chapters (a lot of chapters for book with barely over 100 pages of text), and each chapter deals with a few key points summarised in a pull-quote box at the end of each chapter. There are diagrams, sentences and equations to illustrate the points in visual as well as language terms.

The final chapter, 'A Little History and Some Further Reading', is a good short review of key figures and historical issues that underpin the material presented in the previous chapters. There is a helpful glossary of terms, and Priest also provides a page of logic puzzles and problems to be worked by the students, keyed to an Oxford University Press website that has the solutions to the questions.

This is a good book for review of logic prior to taking tests (such as the LSAT) or graduate courses that require understanding of logical thought processes (systematic theology or philosophy). As some reviewers have noted, this is not a lock-step presentation of standard analytic logic (indeed, many of Priest's other writings have a more non-standard approach), but does provide some good insights in the overall way in which logic is structured and done.

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Argh

The other reviews are right on the mark. My only problem is the book arrived with the first 18 pages (including front page, index, etc.) missing!

It's not damaged. They haven't fallen out. They were just not there to begin with. (you can tell by the binding) The "first" page of my book starts in mid-sentence, lol.

An even much shorter Introduction to Logic, indeed.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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