Bob posted a very interesting snippet of a peice he wrote a while back on our list early in December. I found it to be very informative and wanted to publish it. Upon querying him he did more than say "yes" - he sent me the entire "booklet" from which he snipped the bit he had posted and offered it to be published in the newsletter.

I have read through pretty much all of it and it is very fascinating material. If symbolic logic is of any interest at all to you I highly recommend this "article" (it is really more of a booklet).

Here is what Bob told me regarding the publishing of the booklet:

I have been entertained and sometimes educated over the last year or so in my role as lurtive firker [ed: anyone know what that is?], and would be more than happy to repay by some such contribution as you might feel some would find useful. However, I am sending you here as attachment the whole article I wrote some years back. You have my permission to use that excerpt in the newsletter. But it seems to me I ought give you the opportunity to inspect the whole text from which it was excerpted in case you find some (or all) other excerpts from it useful. It will not be everyone's cup of tea. But from what I've seen, there are those who could benefit by some such fundamental grounding. Look it over and let me know if you want to use any or all other portions. later,yours,Bob

Well - Bob, as you can see I took you up on the offer and I greatly appreciate your generosity. The entire article is contained in the attachments as a zip file called SYMBOLOGIC.zip. It was too large to include it here word for word, and the beautiful formatting would be lost had I done that. However, to wet your appetite - here is the contents of the article and a brief extract from the beginning of the introduction:

I. Introduction to SYMBOLOGIC 2
II. Difference Between Logical Truth and Semantic Truth 3
III. The Nature of Logic 5
IV. Elements and Relations in Logical Systems 7
V. Combining Elements and Relations into Statements 8
VI. Forms of Arguments 9
VII. Testing Form for an Argument 10
VIII. Assigning Truth-Values to Basic Elements 12
IX. Programming an Argument for a Truth-Table 14
X. Rule for Truth-Calculation 15
XI. The Criteria for Judging Consistency 16
XII. Reducing an Argument into Symbols 16
XIII. Testing an Argument in It's Truth-Table 19
XIV. Interpreting Results with the Consistency-Criteria 21
XV. Where the Rules for Truth-Calculation Come From 24
XVI. A List of Argument-Forms Which are Consistent 25
XVII. Some Limitations, A Shortcut, and Your Next Studies in Logic 29
XVIII. Some Exercises to Practice On 30
XIX. A List of Further Readings 31

I. Introduction to SYMBOLOGIC:

The possibility of using logic as a tool for human progress was born as soon as men developed speech. Or, as many thinkers say, as soon as man became man - for becoming master of the planet required communication; the sharing of meaning on more than a rudimentary level. Language, as a system of conventional (commonly agreed upon) symbols allows two very important kinds of human behavior. On the one hand it allows the shared expression of inner feelings, intentions, desires and, on the other hand, it allows the development of precision in telling someone else about the problems to be solved. In general, language lets us share feelings as well as thoughts.

In the sharing of feeling such symbol-patterns have developed in language as chants, song, poetry, prose and metaphor. In the sharing of more precise thoughts such symbol-patterns have developed as arithmetic, geometry, mathematics and logic. In recent times, the development of semantics has brought about the study of communication of thinking-feeling as non-separable behaviors. More about the relation between logic and semantics later.

Further, as we begin to pay attention to the human behaviors either influenced or brought about by language, we may notice that communication through symbols occurs on at least two very important levels. Communication is usually thought of as taking place between individuals - an image in the mind of one person being put into words to be transported over the gap between human minds so as to stimulate the reproduction of the image in the mind of the other person.

However, just as important - and more constantly happening, communication also takes place within the mind of the individual; a sort of private conversation between the single person and himself. This allows him (a) to play 'let's pretend' with himself so as to prepare in advance for future possible situations in which he may find himself. It also allows him (b) to gain more skill in thinking by using better and better symbols to clear up his own thoughts as they grow up from the unconscious part of his mind to the point where he can speak or write them in advantageous ways.