Collected Works of Quine, Volume 3

Author: Tu Jiliang, Chen Bo (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-12
Features: This volume includes two works: "Set Theory and Its Logic" (1963) and "Philosophy of Logic" (1970). The former is an introductory work on abstract set theory and its systematic formalization of various axiomatization methods. The authors begin with a formal system that does not explicitly assume the existence of infinite classes. When infinite classes are assumed to be necessary, they allow these assumptions to be stated only as hypotheses for special theorems. In the concluding chapters, they describe Russell's type theory, Zermelo's system, von Neumann's system, and their two systems, as well as certain developments at the time, and explore the logical connections between these systems. In the latter, the authors define logic as a synthesis of truth and grammar, but they oppose the view that logical truth is true because of grammar or language. They provide a general theory of grammar, discuss the boundaries and possible extensions of logic, and argue that logic is not merely a matter of words.