Introduction to Logic Review

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(More customer reviews)I agree with the other reviewers of this text that it is the best I've encountered (I have taught several different sections of logic over nearly ten years, using 6 or 7 different texts, and have reviewed countless others). The writing is admirably clear and precise, and reads well. Nothing extraneous here, but there is enough to elucidate ideas and strategies. There are two key features that distinguish this text from others, and render it extremely valuable.
(1) the examples and logic problems are INTERESTING, mostly because they are invariably drawn from philosophical arguments; this gives me an opportunity to tie the teaching of logic to discussion of philosophy and makes the relevance of logic to philosophy very clear; I often find students who are interested in philosophy because they have read existentialism or even Plato, and who appreciate the play of ideas they find in these texts; what they do not understand is that the poetry of ideas must be tied to logic, and, more importantly, that there is a kind of poetic rigor to logic; this text helps to make that clear.
(2) Gensler has developed a remarkably simple set of strategies for proof construction, that eliminates much of the confusion and ambiguity that students experience when encountering proofs for the first time; his "star test" for testing syllogisms is excellent, and a cinch to apply; it is even easier to grasp than Venn diagrams and is more versatile; his strategy for proofs in propositional and predicate logic is the best and easiest I've seen anywhere, and combines the merits of truth trees with standard deductive proofs, and has the advantage of yielding both proofs of validity and refutations by the very same method. The ease of the strategy means that it is possible to move much further in a single semester than usual. The content of the book goes further, too, than many of the standard textbooks. He goes into modal logic, belief logic, deontic logic and even has a chapter presenting a formalized ethical theory. Very cool stuff!!
(3) The only weakness I have found is in his explanation of translations; where he is very helpful and precise with strategies for producing proofs and refutations, his guidelines for producing translations into formal symbolism are a bit more vague and amount to only a few guidelines and a bit of hand waving. Still, even here I haven't seen much better elsewhere, so this is a minor quibble. In the context of my classroom, it just meant that this was something we spent more time on.
I really can't recommend this book highly enough for those who are interested in logic.

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Introduction to Logic offers one of the most clear, interesting and accessible introductions to what has long been considered one of the most challenging subjects in philosophy. Harry Gensler engages students with the basics of logic through practical examples and important arguments both in the history of philosophy and from contemporary philosophy. Using simple and manageable methods for testing arguments, students are led step-by-step to master the complexities of logic.The companion LogiCola instructional program andvarious teaching aids (including a teacher's manual) are available from the book's website: www.routledge.com/textbooks/gensler_logic

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The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American Hist) Review

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(More customer reviews)This outstanding book is generally regarded as fundamental to understanding the American Revolution. Wood immersed himself in contemporary writings including a huge array of political pamphlets, sermons, letters, and other texts in an attempt to reconstruct the thinking of the people who made the Revolution and the Constitution. Wood begins with a reconstruction of how colonial Americans perceived the political organization of their societies, their relationship with Britain, and how they conceived politics in general. The initial parts of the book parallel and draw from Bernard Bailyn's outstanding book, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Indeed, much of Wood's book can be seen as sequel to Bailyn's book.
Wood begins with a reconstruction of the pre-Revolutionary conception of politics. Like Bailyn, Wood reconstructs this as a compound of several elements but dominated by certain general Enlightenment concepts and the specific framework developed by dissident 18th century British Whig intellectuals. Basic concepts included the idea that political structure reflected basic social structures, that the 'people' embodied by parliamentary representation were opposed and oppressed by the Crown, and an obsession with 'corruption' induced by abuse of the executive power of the Crown.
The successful conclusion of the Revolution, however, did not produce the outcome predicted by this conception of politics. The resulting confederation and states were perceived by many American intellectuals as dominated by greed and self-interest, there was an absence of the expected moral regeneration, and there were increasing concerns about the power of state legislatures causing both abuse of minority rights and threats to social order.
The reaction to these problems produced a wholesale revision of American's conceptions of politics. In the period leading up to the formulation of the Constitution, many ideas that we accept as basic were formulated. The nascent and later explicit Federalists severed the coupling between social and political organization. This gave government an essentially independent role and represented a form of social engineering because the Federalists essentially depended on constructed institutions to guarantee social success rather than the prior emphasis on public virtue. The ideas of constitutionialism, large republics, delegation of sovereignty, mixed government with responsibility divided between states and the Federal government, and emphasis on social contracts as a source of authority all stem from this period.
Wood is careful to emphasize some particularly interesting aspects of this process. In some respects, the Federalist drive to constitutionalism was a reactionary act on the part of traditional elites who felt they were losing out in excessively egalitarian world created by the Revolution. The process was widely diffused. Important and generally recognized figures like Madison and James Wilson figure prominently in the story but Wood demonstrates how a host of other figures, many now obscure, contributed to and articulated this process.
In a sense, there were 2 American Revolutions. The first being actual revolt from the British Empire and the second being the dramatic change in political thought and institutions that followed the successful conclusion of that revolt. Wood does a wonderful job of delineating how this second revolution occurred.

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