Logic texts for high schooler?

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  • #19249
    AliciaAGordon
    Participant

    Greetings!

    My homeschooled high school son is enjoying this lecture series very much. So far, I am having him do:
    * your lecture series
    * Hillsdale’s Mathematics and Logic short lecture series
    * read The Fallacy Detective
    * read The Thinking Toolbox

    What is missing? Is there a book you would recommend? What else should I include to “count” him as having taken a high school level course in logic?

    Thank you so much for your insight!

    #19250
    gerard.casey
    Participant

    Dear Mrs Gordon,

    Many thanks for your posting and for the compliment. I am delighted that your son is enjoying the material so far.

    You ask ‘What else should I include to “count” him as having taken a high school level course in logic.” Well, all I can say is that, if he’s studied everything on your list, he’s well ahead of the game. However, I’m sending to you by email my schematic notes on mathematical logic which he may find of some use (as well as some other material). The notes are meant to be self-guiding but if he needs any help, please do get in touch.

    Your son is lucky to have the opportunity to study at home. I was completely bored at school. I couldn’t wait to get out, and when that happy day arrived, I felt like a prisoner leaving gaol. I discovered logic at the age of 16 by reading E. J. Lemmon’s book (just then published) and I spent a summer when everyone else was at the beach determined not to let it get the better of me. My notes are based on Lemmon’s system, which I still consider one of the most elegant treatments of mathematical logic.

    With every good wish,

    Gerard Casey

    #22551
    gerard casey
    Participant

    It just occurred to me: in addition to surveying the multifarious accounts of fallacies available in book form and on the web, your son might find a reasonably rigorous treatment of evaluating flesh-and-blood arguments useful. Could I then recommend Alec Fisher’s The Logic of Real Arguments (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press. This book has been out for some time and so it should be possible to pick up a second-hand copy reasonably inexpensively.

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