Logic Thought And Language

Publisher Description

Argues that categorization, and not syntax, is the most important aspect of language, suggests that some philosophical problems are caused by an inadequate theory of language, and promotes a fresh approach to linguistic theory.

This is a collection of eleven original essays in analytical philosophy by British and American philosophers, centring on the connection between mind and language. Two themes predominate: how it is that thoughts and sentences can represent the world; and what having a thought - a belief, for instance - involves. Developing from these themes are the questions: what does having a belief require of the believer, and of the way he or she relates to the environment? In particular, does having a belief require speaking a language? The volume concludes the informal series stemming from the meetings sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation. It will interest analytical philosophers, students doing courses in philosophy of mind within the analytical tradition and philosophically interested researchers in cognitive psychology.

In this exciting new collection, a distinguished international group of philosophers contribute new essays on central issues in philosophy of language and logic, in honor of Michael Dummett, one of the most influential philosophers of the late twentieth century. The essays are focused on areas particularly associated with Professor Dummett. Five are contributions to the philosophy of language, addressing in particular the nature of truth and meaning and the relation between language and thought. Two contributors discuss time, in particular the reality of the past. The last four essays focus on Frege and the philosophy of mathematics. The volume represents some of the best work in contemporary analytical philosophy.

The Logic of Our Language teaches the practical and everyday application of formal logic. Rather than overwhelming the reader with abstract theory, Jackson and McLeod show how the skills developed through the practice of logic can help us to better understand our own language and reasoning processes. The authors’ goal is to draw attention to the patterns and logical structures inherent in our spoken and written language by teaching the reader how to translate English sentences into formal symbols. Other logical tools, including truth tables, truth trees, and natural deduction, are then introduced as techniques for examining the properties of symbolized sentences and assessing the validity of arguments. A substantial number of practice questions are offered both within the book itself and as interactive activities on a companion website.

LANGUAGE, TRUTH AND LOGIC is the classic work of philosophy by Alfred Jules Ayer published in 1936 when Ayer was 26 (though it was in fact completed by age 25). This book defines, explains, and argues for the verification principle of logical positivism, as it relates to the use of objectives and methods in determining truths and probabilities. And whether or not one agrees that emperical evidence is the only basis for proof, there is no denying that this is a brilliant book in how it explains in what ways the principle of verifiability may be applied to the problems of philosophy itself.

A wide-ranging collection of essays inspired by the memory of the cognitive psychologist John Macnamara.