The Art of Logic : An anthology: An anthology

By Sion, Avi, Ph.D.

Book Id: WPLBN0100750271
Format Type: PDF (eBook)
File Size: 2.37 MB.
Reproduction Date: 7/21/2024

Title:	The Art of Logic : An anthology: An anthology
Author:	Sion, Avi, Ph.D.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Philosophy, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, theory of senseperception, soul, causality, causation, volition, freedom of the will, logic of analogy, paradox ressolution, buddhist five skandhas, biblical a fortiori arguments, prayer
Collections:	Authors Community, Philosophy
Historic Publication Date:	2024
Publisher:	Avi Sion

Member Page:	Avi Sion
Citation APA MLA Chicago Sion, P. A. (2024). The Art of Logic : An anthology. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
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 Fundamentals’, which summarizes my theory of causality. Next is ‘The Logic of Analogy’, which brings important innovations to this field. And so forth - the subjects vary, but their common factor is the logical treatment given them. All these essays bring truly new and valuable insights into the subjects they deal with.

Summary
The Art of Logic by Avi Sion is a collection of recent essays on various topics in logic theory and in applied logic. The same faculty and art of logic is called for in formulating theoretical logic and in applying its findings to diverse fields. The essays here collected deal with some very important issues in logic, philosophy, and spirituality, which he had not previously treated in as much detail if at all.

Excerpt
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 around us a physical world producing mental images in us. In which case, the given theory of sensory perception is self-contradictory, starting with a premise that it ends up effectively denying!

Table of Contents
1. FIRST PHILOSOPHY 8 1. Philosophy of mind 8 2. Phenomenology 12 3. Theory of sense-perception 14 4. A soul is needed for cognition 18 5. A biological science that acknowledges soul 21 6. Three principles for biologists to ponder 23 7. Selfhood is the basis of morality and society 25 2. CAUSALITY FUNDAMENTALS 27 1. The four main concepts of causality 27 2. The four determinations of causation 28 3. The logical possibility of natural spontaneity 31 4. Volition and influence 32 5. Origins and evolution of the idea of causality 39 6. Hume’s many problems with causation 43 3. THE LOGIC OF ANALOGY 50 1. Qualitative analogy 50 2. Quantitative analogy 54 3. Terms of unequal breadth 57 4. Face-off with a fortiori argument 59 5. Conflicting analogies 61 6. Statistics-based analogical arguments 63 7. A scientific illustration 64 8. Use of analogy in making and applying law 67 9. A Talmudic illustration 69 10. More about analogy in the Talmud 82 11. Subsumption in analogical terms 84 12. Analogy and causality 85 Annex: Conflicting a fortiori arguments 86 4. RESOLVING PARADOXES 89 1. Protagoras vs. Euathlus 89 1. An ancient paradox 89 2. First resolution 90 3. Second resolution 91 4. Inadequate resolutions 93 2. The Sorites Paradox 95 1. What’s a heap? 95 2. The use of vague terms 95 3. Reasoning with vague terms 97 4. Making up fake paradoxes 98 3. The root cause of the Russell paradox 100 1. My resolution of the Russel paradox 100 2. Why Russell’s resolutions are inadequate 102 3. Why Rescher’s resolution is inadequate 104 4. Other incarnations of the Russell paradox 105 5. About the Barber paradox 106 4. The self-contradiction of the superposition hypothesis 107 1. Aristotelian logic 107 2. Superposition and Schrödinger’s cat 110 3. Zen ‘alive or dead’ koans 113 5. THE BUDDHIST FIVE SKANDHAS DOCTRINE 115 1. Prologue 115 2. My own phenomenological reading 115 3. A more orthodox psychological reading 117 4. A plainly mechanistic thesis 120 5. The metaphysical aspects 121 6. Soul and emptiness 123 7. In conclusion 132 6. ALL THE MORE 134 1. A synthesis of old and new information 134 2. The valid forms of a fortiori argument 139 3. Merged list of 72 qal vachomer arguments in the Tanakh 143 4. MISHNA and 2 TALMUDS 152 5. GENESIS RABBAH and after 154 6. R. Shlomo Yitzchaki (RASHI) 159 7. R. Shmuel Yaffe ASHKENAZI 174 8. R. Zvi Hirsch KATZENELLENBOGEN 175 9. R. Zeev Wolf EINHORN 178 10. R. Mattityahu STRASHUN 183 11. R. Chaim HIRSCHENSOHN 188 12. Avi SION in Judaic Logic 208 13. R. Louis JACOBS 210 14. Avi SION in A Fortiori Logic 212 15. The language of Biblical a fortiori discourse 213 16. The point of it all 220 17. Tabulation of detailed results 222 18. Main references for this essay 225 7. CAUSAL PRESUPPOSITIONS OF PRAYER 227 1. Varieties of prayer 227 2. Divine providence 228 3. Divine interference in nature and human lives 231 4. The spiritual side of existence 234 5. The utility and value of prayer 236 8. SUNDRY NOTES ON LOGIC 240 1. Logical thought 240 2. The first three laws of thought 241 3. Two additional laws of thought 243 4. On the concept of difference 244 5. On Aristotelian syllogism 246 6. On figures of opposition 247 7. On the inductive role of deduction 250 8. On strict or material implication 251 9. About collectional propositions 253 10. On the logic of change 254 11. On a fortiori reasoning 255 12. About modern logic 258 13. Our ‘brave new world’ 259 14. A final word 261