If P Then Q: Conditionals and the Foundations of Reasoning (PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY THEIR PAST AND PRESENT) - Softcover

Sanford, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415079942 ISBN 13: 9780415079945

Publisher: Routledge, 1992

Synopsis

Conditionals play a central role in our everyday thinking about the world and in our deliberations about how we should act. In this volume, David Sanford provides an account of the history of dispute about conditional statements, which are fundamental both to logic and to a great deal of general philosophy. Without presuming either knowledge of the history or prior acquaintance with the philosophical topics that lead to an interest in conditionals, the book introduces the reader to the theoretical and philosophical problems they pose. The first part of the volume traces the history of theories of conditional sentences from the Stoics to the present, examining ancient and medieval logic and the importance of conditionals in philosophy to modern thinkers such as Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Goodman and Stalnaker. In the latter part of the book, the author sets out a new theory of conditionals. This book should be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics of philosophical logic.

About this title

About the Author

David Sanford is Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, North Carolina, USA.

Review

'Undergraduates will find the book useful as a resource. It covers a lot of ground mentioning most of the issues and positions that need to be addressed in a course on conditionals over the years. This is a good place to learn about conditionals or to have one's ideas about them challenged.' - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic

'A useful starting point for a course on conditionals. The introductions to the issues are clear and well-illustrated with examples.' - Dialogue

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415079942
• ISBN 13: 9780415079945
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280