Logic: A Very Short Introduction

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.

In this new edition Graham Priest expands his discussion to cover the subjects of algorithms and axioms, and proofs in mathematics.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Graham Priest, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center

Graham Priest is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as a regular visitor at the University of Melbourne (where he was Boyce Gibson Professor of Philosophy), and at St. Andrews University. His books include Doubt Truth to be a Liar (OUP, 2008), One (OUP, 2014), and Towards Non-Being (2nd ed. OUP, 2016),

Preface to Second Edition
Preface to First Edition
1. Validity: what follows from what?
2. Truth funtions - or not?
3. Names and quantifiers: is nothing something?
4. Descriptions and existence: did the Greeks worship Zeus?
5. Self-reference: What is this chapter about?
6. Necessity and possibility: what will be must be?
7. Conditionals: what's in an if?
8. The future and the past: is time real?
9. Identity and change: is anything ever the same?
10. Vagueness: how do you stop sliding down a slippery slope?
11. Probability: the strange case of the missing reference class
12. Inverse probability: you can't be indifferent about it!
13. Decision theory: great expectations
14. Halt! What goes there?
15. Maybe it is true - but you can't prove it!
A little history and some further reading
Glossary
Problems
Problem solutions
Bibliography
General index