Quote: formal reasoning concerns statements that do not mention actual things; e.g., if all alphas are betas and x is an alpha than x is a beta

Quotation

We then arrive at the statement: "No matter what possible values x and .alpha. and .beta. may have, if all .alpha.'s are .beta.'s and x is an .alpha., then x is a .beta."; ... Here at last we have a proposition of logic--the one which is only suggested by the traditional statement about Socrates and men and mortals. It is clear that, if formal reasoning is what we are aiming at, we shall always arrive ultimately at statements like the above, in which no actual things or properties are mentioned; this will happen through the mere desire not to waste our time proving in a particular case what can be proved generally.   Google-1   Google-2

Published before 1923

Related Topics

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Topic: logic (84 items)
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