Plural Logic - Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged (Paperback, 2nd Revised edition)

Alex Oliver and Timothy Smiley provide a natural point of entry to what for most readers will be a new subject. Plural logic deals with plural terms ('Whitehead and Russell', 'Henry VIII's wives', 'the real numbers', 'the square root of -1', 'they'), plural predicates ('surrounded the fort', 'are prime', 'are consistent', 'imply'), and plural quantification ('some things', 'any things'). Current logic is singularist: its terms stand for at most one thing. By contrast, the foundational thesis of this book is that a particular term may legitimately stand for several things at once; in other words, there is such a thing as genuinely plural denotation. The authors argue that plural phenomena need to be taken seriously and that the only viable response is to adopt a plural logic, a logic based on plural denotation. They expound a framework of ideas that includes the distinction between distributive and collective predicates, the theory of plural descriptions, multivalued functions, and lists. A formal system of plural logic is presented in three stages, before being applied to Cantorian set theory as an illustration. Technicalities have been kept to a minimum, and anyone who is familiar with the classical predicate calculus should be able to follow it. The authors' approach is an attractive blend of no-nonsense argumentative directness and open-minded liberalism, and they convey the exciting and unexpected richness of their subject. Mathematicians and linguists, as well as logicians and philosophers, will find surprises in this book. This second edition includes a greatly expanded treatment of the paradigm empty term zilch, a much strengthened treatment of Cantorian set theory, and a new chapter on higher-level plural logic.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	November 2016
Authors:	Alex Oliver • Timothy Smiley
Dimensions:	235 x 155 x 22mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	398
Edition:	2nd Revised edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-874438-2
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Philosophy of mathematics Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Logic Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Mathematical foundations > Set theory Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, from c 1900 - > Analytical & linguistic philosophy Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Logic Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, from c 1900 - > Analytical & linguistic philosophy Promotions
LSN:	0-19-874438-2
Barcode:	9780198744382

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