 |
| Burnaby Mountain: Burrard Inlet |
LANGER, SUSANNE K (1953)(1967) An Introduction to Symbolic Logic, Dover Publications, New York.
Quote:
'If a propositional form of one variable is said to hold or to fail for all values in the range of significance of that variable, this is a statement about the form. Such a statement is either true or false; that is, either it is true that
'(a) : ~ (a fm a)' or it is false.
~=false
If certain values are assigned to (a), it will be false that (a) is the fellowman of (a). (97).
It is therefore true in this particular system (97) that (a) is not the fellowman of (a), and therefore (b) is not the fellowman of (b) etcetera down the alphabet. (98).
These are general terms (97-98) that are consistent within the system. There are consistent forms.
As a general condition (a) is 'not his own fellowman' is true. (98).
It is true in the symbolic logic system presented. But it depends on how terms are defined within each specific system.
Symbols must be understood in context.
∃=sometimes or somebody (98--99).
rb=robbed (98-99).
∃ rb A=Somebody robbed A; Somebody robbed Smith. (98-99).
∃ fm A=Somebody is the fellowman of A (Smith).
Structure, forms, context and system need to be reasonably explained and understood within philosophical, theological and biblical writing; within academic writing. This needs to be understandable for the reader.
Again, this is not the most clear technical textbook, but I am doing my best to work through it and explain. The uses of the terms true and false here require considerable concentration. Ironically, a text promoting intellectual clarity through the use of symbolic logic is not as clear as possible, although I find working through it very educational and useful.
Symbolic logic is an alternative to written language because written language is prone to ambiguous language, but at the same time there can be ambiguity with the use of the symbols.
 |
| Keep calm |
