Logic For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2

Following Logical Developments from Aristotle to AI

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the roots of logic

Examining classical and modern logic

Looking at 20th and 21st century developments in logic

When you think about how illogical humans can be, you may be surprised to discover how much they’ve developed the concepts of logic over the years. Here’s just a partial list of some varieties of logic that are floating around in the big world of premises and conclusions:

Boolean logic	Modern logic	Quantification logic
Classical logic	Multi-valued logic	Quantum logic
Formal logic	Non-classical logic	Sentential logic
Fuzzy logic	Predicate logic	Syllogistic logic
Informal logic	Propositional logic	Symbolic logic

As your eyes scan all these varieties of logic, you may feel a sudden urge to embrace your humanity fully and leave logic to the Vulcans. The good news, as you can soon discover, is that many types of logic are quite similar. After you’re familiar with a few of them, the rest become much easier to understand.

So, where did all these types of logic come from? Well, that’s a long story — in fact, it’s a story that spans more than 2,000 years. I know 2,000 ...