The present collection of essays deals with some very important issues in logic, philosophy, and spirituality, which I had not previously treated in sufficient detail if at all. Some have previously been published separately or within thematic compilations. This volume begins with ‘First Philosophy’, which depicts my philosophy of mind, my phenomenology, and my theory of sense-perception, and their significance for biological science and ethics. Follows ‘Causality Fundam...

If what we actually see are mental images of the world out there, rather than aspects of the external world itself, then what reliable proof have we that there are any physical sources to our mental images? The sense-organs and brain we claim to have are known to us only through sense-perception, and therefore must themselves, under that theory, be mere mental images. In that case, there is no basis at all – other than mere imagination – for claiming that there exists ar...

ALL THE MORE, by Avi Sion, Ph.D., comprises a merged list of 72 qal vachomer arguments in the Tanakh, i.e. of a fortiori arguments in the Hebrew Bible. This listing brings together lists proposed in past rabbinic literature and in more recent studies by the author. The literature research for it was carried out mainly by R. Yaakov Gabay, who looked into works in Hebrew by five rabbis who had proposed lists, namely: R. Shmuel Yaffe Ashkenazi (Yefeh Toar, 1597), R. Zvi Hi...

The following, briefly put, is the full list of 72 Biblical occurrences of qal vachomer proposed in the present essay: Genesis 3:22-23, 4:14, 4:24, 6:3, 11:6, 14:23, 17:17, 18:12, 39:8-9, 44:8; Exodus 6:12, 6:30; Numbers 12:14; Deuteronomy 31:27, 32:39; Judges 14:16; 1 Samuel 14:29-30, 14:39, 17:37, 21:6, 23:3; 2 Samuel 4:10-11, 11:11, 12:18, 12:21, 16:11; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Kings 5:12, 5:13, 10:4, 18:23-24, 18:35; Isaiah 1:3, 10:11, 20:6, 36:8-9, 36:20, 66:1 (a & b); Jerem...

Exposing Fake Logic is a collection of essays written after publication of his book A Fortiori Logic, in which he critically responds to derivative work by other authors who claim to know better. This is more than just polemics; but allows further clarifications of a fortiori logic and of general logic.

Logic in the Talmud is a ‘thematic compilation’ by Avi Sion. It collects in one volume essays that he has written on this subject in Judaic Logic (1995) and A Fortiori Logic (2013), in which traces of logic in the Talmud (the Mishna and Gemara) are identified and analyzed. A new essay, The Logic of Analogy, was added in 2022. While this book does not constitute an exhaustive study of logic in the Talmud, it is a ground-breaking and extensive study.

Logic in the Torah is a ‘thematic compilation’. It collects in one volume essays that he has written on this subject in Judaic Logic (1995) and A Fortiori Logic (2013), in which traces of logic in the Torah and related religious documents (the Nakh, the Christian Bible, and the Koran and Hadiths) are identified and analyzed.

Inductive Logic is a ‘thematic compilation’ by Avi Sion. It collects in one volume many (though not all) of the essays, that he has written on this subject over a period of some 23 years, which all demonstrate the possibility and conditions of validity of human knowledge, the utility and reliability of human cognitive means when properly used, contrary to the skeptical assumptions that are nowadays fashionable. This volume includes essays on the laws of thought, credibi...

Logical Criticism of Buddhist Doctrines. This 'thematic compilation' comprises expositions and empirical and logical critiques of many (though not all) Buddhist doctrines, such as impermanence, interdependence, emptiness, the denial of self or soul. It includes the author's most recent essay, regarding the five skandhas doctrine.

Paradoxes and Their Resolutions. This 'thematic compilation' comprises expositions and resolutions of many (though not all) ancient and modern paradoxes, including: the Protagoras-Euathlus paradox, the Liar paradox and the Sorites paradox, Russell’s paradox and its derivatives the Barber paradox and the Master Catalogue paradox, Grelling’s paradox, Hempel's paradox of confirmation, and Goodman’s paradox of prediction. This volume also presents and comments on some of the...

The Laws of Thought is an exploration of the deductive and inductive foundations of rational thought. The author here clarifies and defends Aristotle’s Three Laws of Thought, called the Laws of Identity, Non-contradiction and Exclusion of the Middle – and introduces two more, which are implicit in and crucial to them: the Fourth Law of Thought, called the Principle of Induction, and the Fifth Law of Thought, called the Principle of Deduction. This book is a thematic com...

Theology is about God and Creation, or more precisely perhaps about our ideas of them, how they are formed and somewhat justified, although it is stressed that they can be neither proved nor disproved. This book is a thematic compilation drawn from past works by the author over a period of thirteen years (1995-2009). It was expanded in 2014 (with an old essay), and again in 2022 (with a new essay).

Ethics is a collection of thoughts on the method, form and content of Ethics. This book is a ‘thematic compilation’ drawn from past works by the author, over a period of thirteen years.

The Self is an inquiry into the concepts of self, soul, person, ego, consciousness, psyche and mind – ranging over phenomenology, logic, epistemology, ontology, psychology, spirituality, meditation, ethics and metaphysics. This book is a ‘thematic compilation’ drawn from past works by the author over a period of eighteen years.

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 fall...

The Logic of Causation: Definition, Induction and Deduction of Deterministic Causality is a treatise of formal logic and of aetiology. It is an original and wide-ranging investigation of the definition of causation (deterministic causality) in all its forms, and of the deduction and induction of such forms. The work was carried out in three phases over a dozen years (1998-2010), each phase introducing more sophisticated methods than the previous to solve outstanding prob...

More Meditations, which is a sequel to the author’s earlier work, Meditations. It proposes additional practical methods and theoretical insights relating to meditation and Buddhism. It also discusses certain often glossed over issues relating to Buddhism – notably, historicity, idolatry, messianism, importation to the West.

No to Sodom, which is an essay against homosexuality, using biological, psychological, spiritual, ethical and political arguments.

Zen Judaism, which is a frank reflection on the tensions between reason and faith in today’s context of knowledge, and on the need to inject Zen-like meditation into Judaism. This work also treats some issues in ethics and theodicy.

In Defense of Aristotle’s Laws of Thought, which addresses, from a phenomenological standpoint, numerous modern and Buddhist objections and misconceptions regarding the basic principles of Aristotelian logic. Many people seem to be attacking Aristotle’s Laws of Thought nowadays, some coming from the West and some from the East. It is important to review and refute such ideas as they arise.

A Short Critique of Kant’s Unreason, which is a brief critical analysis of some of the salient epistemological and ontological ideas and theses in Immanuel Kant’s famous Critique of Pure Reason. It shows that Kant was in no position to criticize reason, because he neither sufficiently understood its workings nor had the logical tools needed for the task. Kant’s transcendental reality, his analytic-synthetic dichotomy, his views on experience and concept formation, and on...

Hume’s Problems with Induction, which is intended to describe and refute some of the main doubts and objections David Hume raised with regard to inductive reasoning. It replaces the so-called problem of induction with a principle of induction. David Hume’s notorious skepticism was based on errors of observation and reasoning, with regard to induction, causation, necessity, the self and freewill. These are here pointed out and critically analyzed in detail – and more accu...