A Fortiori Logic : Innovations, History and Assessments : Innovations, History and Assessments

By Sion, Avi, Dr.

Book Id: WPLBN0100304380
Format Type: PDF eBook:
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Reproduction Date: 1/1/2013

Title:	A Fortiori Logic : Innovations, History and Assessments : Innovations, History and Assessments
Author:	Sion, Avi, Dr.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Philosophy, Logic, Philosophy, History of Logic
Collections:	Authors Community, Philosophy
Historic Publication Date:	2013
Publisher:	Avi Sion - Kindle

Member Page:	Avi Sion
Citation APA MLA Chicago Avi Sion, B. D. (2013). A Fortiori Logic : Innovations, History and Assessments. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
A Fortiori Logic: Innovations, History and Assessments is a wide-ranging and in-depth study of a fortiori reasoning, comprising a great many new theoretical insights into such argument, a history of its use and discussion from antiquity to the present day, and critical analyses of the main attempts at its elucidation. Its purpose is nothing less than to lay the foundations for a new branch of logic and greatly develop it; and thus to once and for all dispel the many fallacious ideas circulating regarding the nature of a fortiori reasoning. The work is divided into three parts. The first part, Formalities, presents the author’s largely original theory of a fortiori argument, in all its forms and varieties. Its four (or eight) principal moods are analyzed in great detail and formally validated, and secondary moods are derived from them. A crescendo argument is distinguished from purely a fortiori argument, and similarly analyzed and validated. These argument forms are clearly distinguished from the pro rata and analogical forms of argument. Moreover, we examine the wide range of a fortiori argument; the possibilities of quantifying it; the formal interrelationships of its various moods; and their relationships to syllogistic and analogical reasoning. Although a fortiori argument is shown to be deductive, inductive forms of it are acknowledged and explained. Although a fortiori argument is essentially ontical in character, more specifically logical-epistemic and ethical-legal variants of it are acknowledged. The second part of the work, Ancient and Medieval History, looks into use and discussion of a fortiori argument in Greece and Rome, in the Talmud, among post-Talmudic rabbis, and in Christian, Moslem, Chinese and Indian sources. Aristotle’s approach to a fortiori argument is described and evaluated. There is a thorough analysis of the Mishnaic qal vachomer argument, and a reassessment of the dayo principle relating to it, as well as of the Gemara’s later take on these topics. The valuable contribution, much later, by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto is duly acknowledged. Lists are drawn up of the use of a fortiori argument in the Jewish Bible, the Mishna, the works of Plato and Aristotle, the Christian Bible and the Koran; and the specific moods used are identified. Moreover, there is a pilot study of the use of a fortiori argument in the Gemara, with reference to Rodkinson’s partial edition of the Babylonian Talmud, setting detailed methodological guidelines for a fuller study. There is also a novel, detailed study of logic in general in the Torah. The third part of the present work, Modern and Contemporary Authors, describes and evaluates the work of numerous (some thirty) recent contributors to a fortiori logic, as well as the articles on the subject in certain lexicons. Here, we discover that whereas a few authors in the last century or so made some significant contributions to the field, most of them shot woefully off-target in various ways. The work of each author, whether famous or unknown, is examined in detail in a dedicated chapter, or at least in a section; and his ideas on the subject are carefully weighed. The variety of theories that have been proposed is impressive, and stands witness to the complexity and elusiveness of the subject, and to the crying need for the present critical and integrative study. But whatever the intrinsic value of each work, it must be realized that even errors and lacunae are interesting because they teach us how not to proceed. This book also contains, in a final appendix, some valuable contributions to general logic, including new analyses of symbolization and axiomatization, existential import, the tetralemma, the Liar paradox and the Russell paradox.

Summary
A FORTIORI LOGIC: INNOVATIONS, HISTORY AND ASSESSMENTS, by Avi Sion, is a wide-ranging and in-depth study of a fortiori reasoning, comprising a great many new theoretical insights into such argument, a history of its use and discussion from antiquity to the present day, and critical analyses of the main attempts at its elucidation. Its purpose is nothing less than to lay the foundations for a new branch of logic, and greatly develop it; and thus to once and for all dispel the many fallacious ideas circulating regarding the nature of a fortiori reasoning.

Table of Contents
Abstract 1 Foreword 8 PART I - FORMALITIES 10 1. The standard forms 11 2. More formalities 33 3. Still more formalities 49 4. Apparently variant forms 71 5. Comparisons and correlations 82 PART II – ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY 98 6. A fortiori in Greece and Rome 99 7. A fortiori in the Talmud 115 8. In the Talmud, continued 148 9. Post-Talmudic rabbis 187 10. A fortiori in the Christian Bible 215 11. Islamic ‘logic’ 236 12. A fortiori in China and India 277 PART III – MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS 286 13. Moses Mielziner 287 14. Adolf Schwarz 295 15. Saul Lieberman 300 16. Louis Jacobs 307 17. Heinrich Guggenheimer 326 18. Adin Steinsaltz 331 19. Jonathan Cohen 341 20. Michael Avraham 344 21. Gabriel Abitbol 349 22. Hyam Maccoby 362 23. Alexander Samely 370 24. Lenartowicz and Koszteyn 390 25. Abraham, Gabbay and Schild 396 26. Stefan Goltzberg 409 27. Andrew Schumann 416 28. Allen Wiseman 434 29. Yisrael Ury 466 30. Hubert Marraud 481 31. Various other commentaries 495 32. A fortiori in various lexicons 510 33. Conclusions and prospects 523 APPENDICES 530 1. A fortiori discourse in the Jewish Bible 530 2. A fortiori discourse in the Mishna 535 3. A fortiori discourse in the two Talmuds 554 4. A fortiori discourse by Plato and Aristotle 561 5. A fortiori discourse in other world literature 571 6. Logic in the Torah 577 7. Some logic topics of general interest 592 Main References 620