A Concise Introduction to Logic

Tens of thousands of students have learned to be more discerning at constructing and evaluating arguments with the help of Patrick J. Hurley. Hurley's lucid, friendly, yet thorough presentation has made A CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC the most widely used logic text in North America.

Traditional logic as a part of philosophy is one of the oldest scientific disciplines and can be traced back to the Stoics and to Aristotle. Mathematical logic, however, is a relatively young discipline and arose from the endeavors of Peano, Frege, and others to create a logistic foundation for mathematics. It steadily developed during the twentieth century into a broad discipline with several sub-areas and numerous applications in mathematics, informatics, linguistics and philosophy.

Traditional logic as a part of philosophy is one of the oldest scientific disciplines. Mathematical logic, however, is a relatively young discipline and arose from the endeavors of Peano, Frege, Russell and others to create a logistic foundation for mathematics. It steadily developed during the 20th century into a broad discipline with several sub-areas and numerous applications in mathematics, informatics, linguistics and philosophy. While there are already several well-known textbooks on mathematical logic, this book is unique in that it is more concise than most others; the material is treated in a streamlined fashion. This allows the lecturer to select the material for a one-semester course on a topic more easily.