The Logic Manual

by Volker Halbach

An exceptionally clear, concise, and affordable introduction to logic, The Logic Manual carefully walks beginning philosophy students through the fundamentals, offering them a real understanding of how and why logic works. Author Volker Halbach presents essential concepts through examples, informal explanations, and abstract definitions. Topics covered include propositional and predicate logic (with and without identity) and an account of the semantics of these languages, including definitions of truth and satisfaction. In addition, natural deduction is used as a proof system.

Extensively class-tested, The Logic Manual provides the best introduction available to the general, abstract approach to thinking about language, logic, and semantics that is characteristic of contemporary philosophy. A Companion Website provides exercises, examples, and sample examination papers.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction, Psychology, Academic, Academics, Mathematics

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2010

Reviews

[Dylan Lea]

Daddy https://imgur.com/a/TLJ4zfg

[s-n]

volker halbach has caused me immeasurable suffering

[Linnie]

Volker "I don't care Socrates is mortal" Halbach.
Basically, the Bible of Logic.

[michael]

- Oh to be the flatworm in the footnotes that messed up the heart and kidney examples
- I don't care if Socrates is mortal
- Hegel and Schopenhauer shouldn't have their lectures at the same time
- The only morning star I can see is the Sun because I wake up at noon

Fun book (I preferred it over the lectures) that has been a nice source of jokes and mutual suffering throughout MT23 though.

[Hendrik Strauss]

Started great but as the explainations grew shorter, the book became less accessible to me the further I read. Revisited some pages and it made much more sense.
I will be the first to suggest that I failed the book somewhat and I will pick up a different introduction to logic so I can cross check my understanding. Dont get me wrong: this is a solid book about the topic just not one which was a joy all the way through to read as it is highly inconsistent in how much explaination rather than noted logical operation is there.

[Bee]

didn't pass the logic section of my exam boo. could definitely pass using this book if you had an actual predisposition for logic.

[Oli4]

I love Volker

[Thomas Zinner]

Ohne diesem Buch, hätte Ich Logik nicht so schnell verstanden.

[Neele Lange]

jedes youtube tutorial ist hilfreicher als dieses buch 👎

[M]

First four chapters are rather slow, but at least explain the concepts quite well. Last four... well, really did need the lectures to understand at least a little. Probably will make more sense during revision. Also wish Halbach wouldn't use the exact same examples in his lectures.

[Bibiána Bonková]

i just wish i didn’t have to read this book at all. i’ll never forget this experience. i’ll need time to recover after this. if i pass my exams i hope not to be confronted with this book again. if i add another read after this, i failed my exams. wish me luck plz

[Tristan Pinar]

If I were to lie, I’d tell you I didn’t cry while reading this book. But in fact, I did — multiple times.
Thank you, Volker Halbach, for stretching the concept of suffering across multiple dimensions.

4/5

[Antoine]

Solid introduction to logic though dry and covering the last topics too quickly.

[Marcus]

This book got a lot of grief, but I think in its attempt to provide a systematic approach to quantifier predicate logic, step-by-step, with standardised notation, it's great.

[Tim]

One of the best logic books ever, but I'm still not sure who to recommend it to. Not for self-learning, that's for sure.

[Reader]

Made me want to cry 5/5

[Cato]

:)

[Simone]

The exam was not enjoyable

[curtis :)]

thanks Christ Church for making us do logic in MT1 🔥

[Ruslan Diachenko]

A bit hard to follow as an introductory book on logic. I wish it included more examples and practical applications.

[darcey mcallister]

I hate this fucking book

[Jay Gallagher]

Well written but I would not have read this if my school didn't say I should.

[Emi]

nu kan ik eindelijk logisch nadenken

[Rowan P]

It's just not that deep though 🫩 is it

[charlotte c-r.]

if you want a book that'll make you cry, you've chosen the right one.
the amount of trauma i've gotten from this book is horrendous and if i ever have to read it post-prelims i will drop out (not even considering rustication at this point)

[Leon M]

How do you analyze arguments? How do you translate them into the formal languages of propositional and predicate logic to establish their validity or proof that they are non-sequitur? If you are interested in the answers to these questions and if you have a knack for logic and highly abstract reasoning, than this is the book for you.

In "The Logic Manual", Halbach introduces his students to the fundamentals of abstract reasoning in formal systems: The chapters cover both propositional and predicate logic. A lot of the concepts are rather easy when used in everyday contexts, but they can become pretty damn hard when being spoken about as greek letters.

[Reader]

This is a book about the formal constraints of propositional and predicate logic. It sticks with admirable clarity to this topic, without wading into the weeds of metaphysics etc... It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, well ordered and concise. A great introduction to the basics of thought and reason. Not an easy read, but then how could it be? The difficulty is integral to the subject.

[Ramon Picarello]

This book is great for beginning philosophers. It is a straight forward, easy to understand lesson on formal logic.