The Logic of Entailment and its History

This book provides a new philosophical, semantical and historical analysis of and justification for the relevant logic of entailment.

Edwin Mares (Author)

9781009375313, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 February 2024

282 pages
25.1 x 17.6 x 2.2 cm, 0.67 kg

'The Logic of Entailment and Its History by Edwin Mares is interesting, erudite, and original. It seamlessly weaves together contemporary research in logic with its history. The result is a novel, accessible take on entailment and its use in our scientific theories.' Zach Weber, University of Otago

What follows from what, and how do we make statements (whether true or false) about which inferences are correct? In this book, Edwin Mares provides a new philosophical, semantical and historical analysis of and justification for the relevant logic of entailment. In the first half of the book he examines some key ideas in the historical development of the logic of entailment, looking in particular at the notion 'is derivable from' and at how symbolic logic has attempted to capture this notion. In the second half of the book he develops his own theory connecting ideas from the traditions in mathematical logic with some ideas in the philosophy of science. The book's fresh and original perspective on the logic of entailment will be valuable for all who want to know more about the historical and philosophical origins of modern symbolic logic.

1. Why Entailment?
Part I. Entailment in the 20th Century: 2. C.I. Lewis and his school
3. Entailment and possibleworlds
4. Entailment and relevance
5. Reflexivity
Part II. Theories and Entailment: 6. Theories and closure
7. Theories of entailment
Part III. The Logic E of Relevant Entailment: 8. The logic of entailment
9. Negation and disjunction
10. Quantification
11. Entailment and reasoning
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: logic [HPL]