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Sweet Reason is an introductory text for courses on modern logic unlike any other. The basic rudiments of formal and informal logical are here, all clearly described. Further, it focuses students on the real world, where the discipline of logic adds substance and meaning to all kinds of human discourse. Everything from puzzles, paradoxes, and mathematical proofs to campaign debate excerpts, government regulations, and cartoons are used to show how logic is put to work by philosophers, mathematicians, advertisers, computer scientists, politicians, and others. As the book alternately discusses, instructs, questions, teases, and challenges, readers will find themselves: 1) absorbing the fundamentals of the discipline, 2) becoming fluent in thte language of logic, 3) understanding how logic works in the real world, 4) enjoying logic's ability to entertain, surprise, subvert, and enlighten.
List of contents
From the contents:
Preface for the General Reader.- Preface for Logic Teachers: How to Use this Book in Logic Courses.- Introduction.- A Taste of Logic.- Everything All at Once and a Warning.- Statement Logic, Formal Languages, and Informal Arguments.- Valid Arguments, Convincing Arguments, and Punk Logic.- Predicates, Programs, and Antique Logic.- Deduction, Infinity, and a Haircut.- Symbolic Sophistication, Induction, and Business Logic.- Completeness, Disbelief, Debates, and Dinner.- Paradox, Impossibility, and the Law.- Notes.- References.- Hints.- Some Answers.- Index.
