The present post is a follow-up to my post of September 23, 2020, “Alfred Tarski on the Benefits of the Knowledge of Logic. A Timely Reminder.” In the post I presented a passage written by the logician, Alfred Tarki, spelling out why logic mattered circa 1940, that, as he put it, logic “makes men [sic] more critical—and thus makes less likely their being misled by all the pseudo-reasonings to which they are incessantly exposed in various parts of the world today.” It was my thought that, for the same reason, logic matters today.

This post was prompted by a post, “Free introductions to formal logic?” appearing in the blog, Logic Matters, published by Peter Smith, a retired professor of philosophy and logic at the University of Cambridge. Spoiler alert: The post answers its title’s question in the affirmative, with Smith taking note of five such books available, at no cost, for the downloading. The last book Smith lists is the second edition of his own An Introduction to Formal Logic (Second edition, Reprinted with corrections; Logic Matters, August 2020).

Logic, however, is useful only for those who know logic. So, I urge you to peruse Smith’s listing and those of the books listed you find most interesting.

Until next time.

Richard