Introduction to Symbolic Logic and its Applications

by Rudolf Carnap

A clear, comprehensive & rigorous treatment develops the subject from elementary concepts to the construction & analysis of relatively complex logical languages. It then considers the application of symbolic logic to the clarification & axiomatization of theories in mathematics, physics & biology. Hundreds of problems, examples & exercises.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Science

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Rudolf Carnap, a German-born philosopher and naturalized U.S. citizen, was a leading exponent of logical positivism and was one of the major philosophers of the twentieth century. He made significant contributions to philosophy of science, philosophy of language, the theory of probability, inductive logic and modal logic. He rejected metaphysics as meaningless because metaphysical statements cannot be proved or disproved by experience. He asserted that many philosophical problems are indeed pseudo-problems, the outcome of a misuse of language.

Read more : http://www.iep.utm.edu/carnap/

Reviews

[David Nathans]

Extensive coverage of a wide variety of topics, it even shows the application of logic to biology. That being said, it’s old, very old, the notation is outdated, and the small print makes it difficult to read at times.

[TheFIX]

Better exposition of Carnap's methodology and goals than the subject matter itself. Rather dated, but if you like Carnap, you'll appreciate this book.