Personal picks · 6 books
A practical route into arguments, formal logic, and inductive reasoning, ending with the places where logic meets language and self-reference.
Books, curator notes, and what to read next.
Anthony Weston
Practice identifying premises and conclusions, then revise an argument so that its reasoning can be checked by someone else.
Next: Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Russell connects number, relations, and logical structure. Work the simple examples before moving to the foundations.
Next: Methods of Logic
Willard Van Orman Quine
Translate short arguments into logical form. Check what the formalization preserves and what it deliberately leaves aside.
Next: An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic
Ian Hacking
Use the exercises to connect probability with decisions and evidence. Distinguish an inductive argument from a valid deduction.
Next: Fact, Fiction, and Forecast
Nelson Goodman
Use the grue puzzle to test why some patterns support predictions while other equally consistent patterns do not.
Next: Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter
Follow the formal systems and self-reference puzzles. Keep the mathematical results separate from the analogies about minds.
Also includes An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic
Induction, probability, inquiry, and scientific change. Ask why some evidence changes a belief while other evidence changes the whole framework.
More Personal picks paths
A reading route made on Readpath.
More Personal picks paths
A reading route made on Readpath.
