Logic: Deductive and Inductive
Public-domain ebook
Logic: Deductive and Inductive
by Carveth Read
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #18440.
About this book
Carveth Read’s Logic: Deductive and Inductive is a scholarly survey of logical theory as it stood in the early twentieth century. The opening pages situate the work within the Millian tradition, acknowledging the influence of Mill, Bain, Venn, Keynes and a host of contemporary philosophers. From the outset Read promises a systematic treatment of “qualitative” propositions, those that are not purely mathematical, by defining logic as the science of proof for such statements, outlining the roles of contradiction, syllogism, causation and probability, and then proceeding through a detailed contents list that maps out chapters on everything from the analysis of propositions to the classification of fallacies.
The tone is that of a careful academic lecture, written in formal British English of the Edwardian era, with frequent references to other scholars and a dense, systematic style. Readers who enjoy rigorous, historically grounded examinations of logical structure, students of philosophy, historians of science, or anyone interested in the foundations of argumentation before the rise of modern symbolic logic, will find Read’s methodical exposition both challenging and rewarding.
Who appears in Logic
- MillMiddle‑aged Victorian gentleman, dark hair, round spectacles, frock coat, pocket watch
- Dr. VennElderly British scholar, white beard, waistcoat, tie, holding a notebook
- Dr. KeynesYoung academic, tidy hair, tweed jacket, round glasses, thoughtful expression
The opening · free to read
The work may be considered, on the whole, as attached to the school of Mill; to whose System of Logic, and to Bain's Logic, it is deeply indebted. Amongst the works of living writers, the Empirical Logic of Dr. Venn and the Formal Logic of Dr. Keynes have given me most assistance. To some others acknowledgments have been made as occasion arose.
For the further study of contemporary opinion, accessible in English, one may turn to such works as Mr. Bradley's Principles of Logic, Dr. Bosanquet's Logic; or the Morphology of Knowledge, Prof. Hobhouse's Theory of Knowledge, Jevon's Principles of Science, and Sigwart's Logic. Ueberweg's Logic, and History of Logical Doctrine is invaluable for the history of our subject. The attitude toward Logic of the Pragmatists or Humanists may best be studied in Dr. Schiller's Formal Logic, and in Mr. Alfred Sidgwick's Process of Argument and recent Elementary Logic. The second part of this last work, on the "Risks of Reasoning," gives an admirably succinct account of their position. I agree with the Humanists that, in all argument, the important thing to attend to is the meaning, and that the most serious difficulties of reasoning occur in dealing with the matter reasoned about; but I find that a pure science of relation has a necessary place in the system of knowledge, and that the formulæ known as laws of contradiction, syllogism and causation are useful guides in the framing and testing of arguments and experiments concerning matters of fact. Incisive criticism of traditionary doctrines, with some remarkable reconstructions, may be read in Dr. Mercier's New Logic.
In preparing successive editions of this book, I have profited by the comments of my friends: Mr. Thomas Whittaker, Prof. Claude Thompson, Dr. Armitage Smith, Mr. Alfred Sidgwick, Dr. Schiller, Prof. Spearman, and Prof. Sully, have made important suggestions; and I might have profited more by them, if the frame of my book, or my principles, had been more elastic.
As to the present edition, useful criticisms have been received from Mr. S.C. Dutt, of Cotton College, Assam, and from Prof. M.A. Roy, of Midnapore; and, especially, I must heartily thank my colleague, Dr. Wolf, for communications that have left their impress upon nearly every chapter.
CARVETH READ.
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