Elements of Logic

by Richard Whately

This classical text was once dismissed as a mere reaffirmation of Aristotle's doctrine of syllogistic reasoning, standing in opposition to the new logic of scientific induction that dominated the modern era of logic and rhetoric. Yet today Elements of Logic again offers a number of useful principles for teaching reasoning and critical thinking to undergraduates, helping them to understand that common reasoning patterns are a constant across subjects and contexts. As the linear reasoning patterns of the inductive scientific method are fading, students are constantly exposed to, and seek out, information that comes in short bursts and is dominated by visual and aural stimuli. Those who must create new models of reasoning to fit ever-evolving forms of electronic media may find guidance and inspiration in Whately's work.

Genres: Logic, Philosophy

402 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2008

About the author

English rhetorician, logician, economist, academic and theologian who also served as a reforming Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin. He was a leading Broad Churchman, a prolific and combative author over a wide range of topics. Whately was an important figure in the revival of Aristotelian logic in the early nineteenth century. Whately's view of rhetoric as essentially a method for persuasion became an orthodoxy, challenged in mid-century by Henry Noble Day.

Reviews

[Blunt Of Mercia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, but the prose style is exceedingly dense, not for the faint of heart! Certainly interesting if one is interested in the history of education, or logic.