An Investigation of the Laws of Thought by George Boole.pdf

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Title:AnInvestigationoftheLawsofThought

Author:GeorgeBoole

ReleaseDate:February16,2005[EBook#15114]

Language:English

Charactersetencoding:PDF

***STARTOFTHISPROJECTGUTENBERGEBOOKLAWSOFTHOUGHT***

ProducedbyDavidStarner,JoshuaHutchinson,DavidBowden

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ANINVESTIGATION

THELAWSOFTHOUGHT,

ONWHICHAREFOUNDED

THEMATHEMATICALTHEORIESOFLOGICAND

PROBABILITIES.

GEORGEBOOLE,LL.D.

PROFESSOROFMATHEMATICSINQUEEN’SCOLLEGE,CORK.

JOHNRYALL,LL.D.

VICE-PRESIDENTANDPROFESSOROFGREEK

INQUEEN’SCOLLEGE,CORK,

THISWORKISINSCRIBED

INTESTIMONYOFFRIENDSHIPANDESTEEM

PREFACE.

——

ThefollowingworkisnotarepublicationofaformertreatisebytheAuthor,

entitled,“TheMathematicalAnalysisofLogic.”Itsearlierportionisindeed

devotedtothesameobject,anditbeginsbyestablishingthesamesystemof

fundamentallaws,butitsmethodsaremoregeneral,anditsrangeofapplica-

tionsfarwider.Itexhibitstheresults,maturedbysomeyearsofstudyand

reﬂection,ofaprincipleofinvestigationrelatingtotheintellectualoperations,

thepreviousexpositionofwhichwaswrittenwithinafewweeksafteritsidea

hadbeenconceived.

ThatportionofthisworkwhichrelatestoLogicpresupposesinitsreadera

knowledgeofthemostimportanttermsofthescience,asusuallytreated,and

ofitsgeneralobject.OnthesepointsthereisnobetterguidethanArchbishop

Whately’s“ElementsofLogic,”orMr.Thomson’s“OutlinesoftheLawsof

Thought.”Totheformerofthesetreatises,thepresentrevivalofattentionto

thisclassofstudiesseemsinagreatmeasuredue.Someacquaintancewiththe

principlesofAlgebraisalsorequisite,butitisnotnecessarythatthisapplication

shouldhavebeencarriedbeyondthesolutionofsimpleequations.Forthestudy

ofthosechapterswhichrelatetothetheoryofprobabilities,asomewhatlarger

knowledgeofAlgebraisrequired,andespeciallyofthedoctrineofElimination,

andofthesolutionofEquationscontainingmorethanoneunknownquantity.

Preliminaryinformationuponthesubject-matterwillbefoundinthespecial

treatisesonProbabilitiesin“Lardner’sCabinetCyclopædia,”andthe“Library

ofUsefulKnowledge,”theformerofthesebyProfessorDeMorgan,thelatter

bySirJohnLubbock;andinaninterestingseriesofLetterstranslatedfrom

theFrenchofM.Quetelet.Otherreferenceswillbegiveninthework.On

aﬁrstperusalthereadermayomitathisdiscretion,Chaptersx.,xiv.,and

xix.,togetherwithanyoftheapplicationswhichhemaydeemuninvitingor

irrelevant.

Indierentpartsofthework,andespeciallyinthenotestotheconcluding

chapter,willbefoundreferencestovariouswriters,ancientandmodern,chieﬂy

designedtoillustrateacertainviewofthehistoryofphilosophy.Withrespect

tothese,theAuthorthinksitpropertoadd,thathehasinnoinstancegiven

iii

PREFACE.

acitationwhichhehasnotbelieveduponcarefulexaminationtobesupported

eitherbyparallelauthorities,orbythegeneraltenoroftheworkfromwhich

itwastaken.Whilehewouldgladlyhaveavoidedtheintroductionofanything

whichmightbypossibilitybeconstruedintotheparadeoflearning,hefeltit

tobeduebothtohissubjectandtothetruth,thatthestatementsinthetext

shouldbeaccompaniedbythemeansofveriﬁcation.Andifnow,inbringing

toitsclosealabour,oftheextentofwhichfewpersonswillbeabletojudge

fromitsapparentfruits,hemaybepermittedtospeakforasinglemoment

ofthefeelingswithwhichhehaspursued,andwithwhichhenowlaysaside,

histask,hewouldsay,thatheneverdoubtedthatitwasworthyofhisbest

eorts;thathefeltthatwhateveroftruthitmightbringtolightwasnota

privateorarbitrarything,notdependent,astoitsessence,uponanyhuman

opinion.Hewasfullyawarethatlearnedandablemenmaintainedopinions

uponthesubjectofLogicdirectlyopposedtotheviewsuponwhichtheentire

argumentandprocedureofhisworkrested.Whilehebelievedthoseopinionsto

beerroneous,hewasconsciousthathisownviewsmightinsensiblybewarped

byaninﬂuenceofanotherkind.Hefeltinanespecialmannerthedangerofthat

intellectualbiaswhichlongattentiontoaparticularaspectoftruthtendsto

produce.Buthetruststhatoutofthisconﬂictofopinionsthesametruthwill

butemergethemorefreefromanypersonaladmixture;thatitsdierentparts

willbeseenintheirjustproportion;andthatnoneofthemwilleventuallybe

toohighlyvaluedortoolightlyregardedbecauseoftheprejudiceswhichmay

attachtothemereformofitsexposition.

Tohisvaluedfriend,theRev.GeorgeStephensDickson,ofLincoln,the

Authordesirestorecordhisobligationsformuchkindassistanceintherevision

ofthiswork,andforsomeimportantsuggestions.

5,Grenville-place,Cork,

Nov.30th.1853.

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