Abstract
AN additional text-book of logic will not necessarily improve the “low ranking in popularity” of that subject. Yet, Prof. Shaw has written one with the object of trying to make logic “as vital and interesting as its frigid forms will permit”. It is difficult to say whether the author has succeeded in this undertaking, as the response has to come from the student rather than from the teacher. But in so far as the latter is concerned, he will find little in this new book to justify its substitution for other similar works. A point in its favour is the fact that the author tries to be more human in his exposition of the traditional theories: his treatment of the logic of judgment and of the hypothetical syllogism are good illustrations of this characteristic. But on the other hand, there are many points of scientific method which he has deliberately overlooked, though they have their place in the scheme of the inductive process. The additional chapters of the theory of knowledge are not at all out of process, though they raise more problems than they can attempt to solve. The writing and the production of the book show, never theless, that logic still has a good following and that it deserves a still greater one.
Logic in Theory and Practice
Prof.
C. G.
Shaw
By. Pp. xvii + 428. (London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1935.) 8s. 6d. net.
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G., T. Logic in Theory and Practice. Nature 138, 187 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138187b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138187b0