Methods of LOGIC REVISED EDITION Willard Van Orman Quine HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON [New You « Chicago «San Frcs » TorontoCopyright © 1950, 1959 by Hol, Rinehart and Winston nc. Libcary of Congress Catalog Card Number 99124 ebay, 1966 2729.0219 Prined in the United States of Amenca To MARJORIEForeword tothe Revised Editon In 28 thee are wo convenient deductive rule that cannot be directly justified, for the good reason that they serve to deduce conclusions from premisss insuficent «0 imply them. In past printings of §28 there rules have been intety justified y proving that deductions in which they are wed will till rura out allright in the end, a long at certain arbitrary looking restrictions are re spected, In thi new edition, §28 i ewrtten, The rule and resti tions are now explained and justified ina way that dispels the old air of artical. Pp, 190f, and 244-248 treated of theorems of Church and Gide, to the efzet that there can be no decison procedure fr quant fiaton theory and ao complete proof procedure fr number theory. is material has been rewritten, and alo extended (by compresing the adjacent text, with a view to providing a somewhat fll understanding. ‘An appendix is aed proving Gide’ cheorem of the complete ress of quantification theory and a related theorem of Liwenbcim, ‘This i the Appendix that was enclosed asa pampbet with part of the thd printing. ‘On suggestions of Me. Donald P. Quimby and Profesor Wiliam “TParey, Ihave revised pp 31,52, and [BL inthe direction of moce freedom of classroom procedure, Laser emendatons, many of therm prompted by Mr. Quimby, have been made in pp. 2,97, 135, ME, 170,189, 200, 202,242, and the Bibliography and ladex ‘Thiry small typographical or clerical errs discovered in the fie printing were corrected inthe second, 1952. Also various more suletantal emendations were there made, acting pages 44, 53, 67,100,116, 19, 73, 176, 181, and 192. For ealling my attention to the need of thse corrections I remain indebted to many rede, ‘specaly ProfesotsG.B. Butch, Alonzo Church, and AP, Ushenko and Mess, M. W. Dick, 8. Pais, and S.J. Tees. Cambridge, August 2, 1956 WV.Q Preface Logic isan old subject, and since 1879 it has been a great one “There i oom in it for many books. But if each of five lagi books is concerned, at leas in its erly portions, with the clement ofthe subject, and allare from the sume hand, then space mut be found in ‘the fith for an apology. Such isthe purpose for which the present page andthe next have ben set aide. “This book undertakes both to convey a precise understanding of ‘the formal concepts of rodern logic and to develop conveaient tech igues of formal reaaiag. Logic books exit which are strong in ‘theory and rigorous and elegant in the matter of proof but the reader who would dicover further prof of his wa has had pin filly to develop his own method of discovery. a this book, though rigor harbeca preserved, the objective ofinelcting technical ity fas bern allowed to prevail aver that of elegance. ‘The logic of truth functions and the logic of one place predates, ‘or monaie quantification theory, are provided here with mechanical texts ofvaity. Various such tents are knowa, but new ones are bere presented which seem on the whole to terminate more quickly when ‘ppied to examples, For the broader loge of predicates, or general quantification theory, comprehensive tests of validity ae known to be imposible Here one must resort to proof athe than mere tests; and the dis ‘covery of proof commonly depends on ingenuity. Here, cherefre, cflcacy is served by s0 faming the rules of proof as to make the dscovery of proofs as easy om the average as we can. This objective, ‘ather than tht of concisenessof rules, hs prompted thesytematiz- tion of general quantification theory contained inthis bok. ‘This moch makes the book » new mansal of lgial method. But ‘theory alo comes in fora size. The lst five sections of the book eal with set theory andthe foundations of mathematics, others deal