Introduction

Target Audience

As a course of study in colleges and universities, logic is either a degree requirement or a strongly recommended class. While there should be no doubt that the study of logic benefits all students in higher education, one cannot overlook the fact that most of these students will never become professional philosophers, much less professional logicians. As such, this text is not meant to cater to discipline-centric goals: the reproduction of a scholarly minority and the preservation of intellectual traditions.

This text is meant for the majority of students found in logic classrooms, those whose intellectual pursuits lie far outside philosophy and the field of logic. Put differently, this book is for the 99% who will take a logic class and (should) expect to benefit from it.

The Approach of This Textbook

This textbook takes a student-centered approach. In this context, that means looking at the principles of logic as highly practical tools and training. The approach here is to treat logic as methodology that is actionable in everyday settings. This is logic for the street.

To the extent that some conventional techniques of modern logic are not conducive to everyday practice (e.g., the handwritten production of a 128-line truth table), we approach these in the context of the underlying value they do hold for everyday life. This text will cover those techniques. However, they are not covered here under the pretext that they are intrinsically valuable, and the text does not present them in order to ensure coverage of the discipline. The discipline can get along quite nicely on its own with the handful of scholars who cultivate it.

The coverage here is in service to students, most of whom really do need to learn this material (because their lives will be the better for it). Techniques such as these are framed in the context of enhancing student understanding of concepts, building mental focus, and improving rigor in communication. Broadly put, this approach speaks to the most basic value any student should find in taking a logic class: a more disciplined mind.