Kunos Press is an independent publishing press housed in the Philosophy Department. The press publishes An Introduction to Logic, an introductory text book authored by Wayne Davis and the Georgetown Logic Group. To order a copy of the book, please contact Anne Walsh by e-mail (walsha@georgetown.edu), or by phone at (202) 687-7487.
An Introduction to Logic
Textbook Features
Intuitive, common-sense approach to logical reasoning and critical thinking
Broad range of topics, including informal and inductive logic, formal deductive logic, modal logic, binary logic circuits, definition and the history of science
More than 3,000 practice exercises and 65 LSAT prep test questions
Reviews
“Professor Davis’s An Introduction to Logic never loses sight of the goal of a beginning course in logic, which is to introduce students to the principles of sound argumentation in the hope that this might actually improve their reasoning. Thus, while most texts provide only a superficial treatment of inductive reasoning en route to the more manageable (if less useful) elaboration of deductive systems, Davis dedicates two extensive chapters to induction. Not only do these chapters cover more material—including a careful analysis of hypothetical induction or ‘inference to the best explanation’—the material covered is much more sensibly organized. Rather than having a separate chapter listing of various unrelated fallacies, Davis presents argument forms along with their conditions of validity and introduces fallacious forms as the violations of one or more of these conditions. Davis’s treatment of deductive reasoning is similarly sensitive to the needs of the introductory student. The concepts of predicate logic are first introduced by way of Aristotelian and propositional logic, and each deductive system is presented as a tool for the analysis of arguments in natural language. Thus, while many texts are content to introduce the material conditional and ignore student protests that this seems a poor translation of the English conditional, Davis discusses not only the material but also the weak and strong conditional and prefers the last of these for the development of his deductive system. For students who are interested in logic mainly as a tool for improving their reasoning, I can’t think of a better text.”—Matthew Rellihan, Seattle University
“Breaking down the material into small sections in each chapter makes it easier to digest each new concept and makes it clear how each new concept develops and builds on previous ones.” – Kris Rodgers
“The book is very thorough in explaining material— gives lots of examples to help understand the text.”—Chris Toft
“What I like most about the book is that it is east to understand. The writing is simple and succinct, yet still explains the material thoroughly.” – Ben Lee
“The book has a layout that is easy to follow and makes the concepts clear. I like how each section is divided with subheadings and the fact that important definitions are reviewed again at the end of the section.” –Allison Oelschlaeger
About the Authors
Wayne Davis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University. In addition to his An Introduction to Logic he is the author of Implicature (Cambridge, 1998), Meaning, Expression, and Thought (Cambridge, 2003), and Nondescriptive Meaning and Reference (Oxford, 2005).
The Georgetown Logic Group is comprised of Justyna Japola, Robert Leider, Chauncey Maher, David Pierce, Diana Puglisi, Dan Quattrone and Matthew Rellihan --- all past students of Professor Davis', and teachers of this book.