00833277

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00833277 Winter, R. Foundations of formal logic. (Grundlagen der formalen Logik.) Deutsch Taschenb\"ucher. 91. Frankfurt/Main: Harri Deutsch. ix, 236 p. DM 19.80; \"oS 147.00; sFr. 19.80 (1996). 1996 Frankfurt/Main: Harri Deutsch DE textbook propositional logic elementary aspects of set theory This book is at once a great deal more elementary and a great deal more advanced than its title would suggest. On the one hand, this is an elementary textbook which presupposes no previous study of logic and only an elementary understanding of mathematics. It limits itself solely to propositional logic and to elementary aspects of set theory. The book includes very little metatheory. The emphasis is on semantic issues. It includs many examples and exercises and is even well adapted to a student trying to learn the material without the benefit of a teacher. On the other hand, many topics are included which would ordinarily only be found in a more advanced text. For example, the text discusses normal forms, duality, and alternative logics such as dialectical, multiple-valued, intuitionistic, operative, modal and fuzzy. To be sure, these discussions are quite brief but they are seldom even found in books as elementary as this one. Throughout, the book aims at a balance between mathematical and philosophical issues. The book is very clearly written and includes a brief, but appropriate, bibliography. The small size of the book (7 1/2 by 4 3/4 inches) makes it very convenient for students. The material in the book could easily be covered in a semester. Because of the way the treatment is at the same time quite elementary as well as quite sophisticated, it would make an excellent one-semester general introduction to logic for students of mathematics of philosophy. Students heading toward a specialization in mathematical logic would clearly need more than this book provides, but the general student could clearly work profitably from this volume. A.M.Coyne (Asheville)