Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Meaning and Argument shifts introductory logic from the traditional emphasis on proofs to the symbolization of arguments. Another distinctive feature of this book is that it shows how the need for expressive power and for drawing distinctions forces formal language development. This revised edition includes expanded sections, additional exercises, and an updated bibliography. Updated and revised edition includes extended sections, additional exercises, and an updated bibliography. Distinctive approach in that this text is a philosophical, rather than mathematical introduction to logic. Concentrates on symbolization and does all the technical logic simply with truth tables and no derivations at all. Contains numerous exercises and a corresponding answer key. Extensive appendix which allows the reader to explore subjects that go beyond what is usually covered in an introductory logic course. Features accompanying website at http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~logic/MeaningArgument.html

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface to Revised Edition
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 A Brief Introduction to Key Terms
• 2 Argument Forms and Propositional Logic
• 3 Conjunction
• 4 Negation
• 5 Truth Tables
• 6 Disjunction
• 7 Conditional
• 8 Truth Trees
• 9 Property Predicate Logic
• 10 Evaluating Arguments in Property Predicate Logic
• 11 Property Predicate Logic Refinements
• 12 Relational Predicate Logic
• 13 Relational Predicate Logic with Nested Quantifiers
• 14 Extending the Truth Tree Method to RPL
• 15 Negation, Only, and Restrictive Relative Clauses
• 16 Relational Predicate Logic with Identity
• 17 Verbs and their Modifiers
• Appendix
• Answers for Selected Exercises
• Logical Symbols
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This primer in logic spans an introductory logic course: truth tables, validity, propositional logic, predicate logic, formal proofs, consistency, and other topics, but verges on issues in philosophy of language beyond introductory logic. In demonstrating how logical formalisms begin in clarifying meanings in natural language, LePore (Rutgers Univ.) shows "how the need for expressive power and for drawing distinctions forces formal language development." Perspicuous in its organization, the book divides into concise chapters, which are subdivided into clearly labeled sections, and LePore provides a bibliographical listing instead of intruding those issues in the text. Logic teachers will compare LePore with Copi's Introduction to Logic (1953, 10th ed., 1998), which also begins with natural language and includes the syllogism and scientific induction; with Kahane and Tidman's Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction (2d ed., 1973, 8th ed., 1999), which begins with propositional and predicate logic, and, with less attention to natural language, includes the syllogism, informal fallacies, and induction; and with Hurley's A Concise Introduction to Logic (1982, 7th ed., 2000), which includes informal fallacies, the syllogism, and induction, at the price of less attention to propositional and predicate logic. Undergraduate libraries will find LePore a useful addition to their collections of introductory texts in logic; also for general readers. J. Churchill; Hendrix College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Ernest Lepore is Director of the Center for Cognitive Science at Rutgers University. He is the author of numerous articles in philosophy of mind and is co-author (with Jerry Fodor) of Holism (Blackwell, 1991). He is editor of Truth and Interpretation (Blackwell, 1989). He is co-editor (with Zenon Pylyshyn) of What is Cognitive Science ? (Blackwell, 1999), and co-editor (with Robert Van Gulick) of John Searle and His Critics (Blackwell, 1992), as well as general editor of the series Philosophers and Their Critics, also published by Blackwell.