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BOOLE, George (1815-1864). The mathematical analysis of logic, being an essay towards a calculus of deductive reasoning. Cambridge: Macmillan, Barclay & Macmillan, 1847.
Details
BOOLE, George (1815-1864). The mathematical analysis of logic, being an essay towards a calculus of deductive reasoning. Cambridge: Macmillan, Barclay & Macmillan, 1847.
8o. Modern full morocco; original printed front wrapper bound in.
FIRST EDITION. Boole's The Mathematical Analysis of Logic was distinguished from the logics that preceded it in that it derived its theorems not from ordinary language (e.g, the Aristotelian syllogism), but from a purely formal system. Boole's work also contains what Bertrand Russell called the greatest discovery of the nineteenth century: the nature of pure mathematics. Objecting to the then-current view of mathematics as the science of magnitude or number, Boole adopted a far more general view: "We might justly assign it as the definitive character of a true Calculus, that it is a method resting upon the employment of Symbols, whose laws of combination are known and general, and whose results admit of a consistent interpretation ... It is upon the foundation of this general principle, that I propose to establish the Calculus of Logic, and that I claim for it a place among the acknowledged forms of mathematical analysis" (p. 4).
Boole further developed these ideas in his Investigation of the Laws of Thought. That work contained the first proper presentation of Boolean algebra, although earlier incomplete attempts had been made by others, including Leibnitz and De Morgan. OOC 223.
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FIRST EDITION. Boole's The Mathematical Analysis of Logic was distinguished from the logics that preceded it in that it derived its theorems not from ordinary language (e.g, the Aristotelian syllogism), but from a purely formal system. Boole's work also contains what Bertrand Russell called the greatest discovery of the nineteenth century: the nature of pure mathematics. Objecting to the then-current view of mathematics as the science of magnitude or number, Boole adopted a far more general view: "We might justly assign it as the definitive character of a true Calculus, that it is a method resting upon the employment of Symbols, whose laws of combination are known and general, and whose results admit of a consistent interpretation ... It is upon the foundation of this general principle, that I propose to establish the Calculus of Logic, and that I claim for it a place among the acknowledged forms of mathematical analysis" (p. 4).
Boole further developed these ideas in his Investigation of the Laws of Thought. That work contained the first proper presentation of Boolean algebra, although earlier incomplete attempts had been made by others, including Leibnitz and De Morgan. OOC 223.
Further details
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