Book Information

Meaning and Argument

An Introduction to Logic through Language

By: Ernest Lepore (Rutgers University)

Reviews

"Meaning and Argument is an excellent logic textbook that not only introduces students to the techniques of English symbolization and the truth-tree method, but it also to a fascinating array of topics in linguistic syntax and semantics, including logical form, anaphora, adverbial modification, descriptions, among others. My first-year logic students have enjoyed Lepore's book immensely and have found it to be very helpful and accessible. This new and revised edition will be even more beneficial for students and instructors." Ray Elugardo, University of Oklahoma

Description

Meaning and Argument shifts introductory logic from the traditional emphasis on proofs to the symbolization of arguments. It is an ideal introduction to formal logic, philosophical logic, and philosophy of language.

• 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.

TopTable of Contents

\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.

TopAbout the Author

Ernest Lepore is Director of the Centre 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.