Tracking Reason: Proof, Consequence, and Truth

by Jody Azzouni

Overview

When ordinary people--mathematicians among them--take something to follow (deductively) from something else, they are exposing the backbone of our self-ascribed ability to reason. Jody Azzouni investigates the connection between that ordinary notion of consequence and the formal analogues invented by logicians. One claim of the book is that, despite our apparent intuitive grasp of consequence, we do not introspect rules by which we reason, nor do we grasp the scope and range of the domain, as it were, of our reasoning. This point is illustrated with a close analysis of a paradigmatic case of ordinary reasoning: mathematical proof.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190293147
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jody Azzouni is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. He also the author of Deflating Existential Consequence (OUP 2004).

Table of Contents

General IntroductionPart I. Truth1. Truth and Truth Conditions2. The Transcendence of Truth3. Anaphorically Unrestricted Quantifiers4. Regimentation and Paradox5. The Inconsistency of Natural LanguagesConclusion to Part IPart II. Mathematical Proof6. The Uniqueness of Mathematics as a Social Practice7. The Derivation-Indicator View of Mathematical Practice8. How to Nominalize FormalismConclusion to Part IIPart III. Semantics an the Notion of Consequence: Introduction to Part II9. Semantics and the Notion of ConsequenceConclusion to Part IIIGeneral ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Tracking Reason introduces exciting new ideas and proposes original and sophisticated solutions to difficult philosophical problems. Any reader interested in the philosophy of logic, language, or mathematicswill no doubt benefit from Azzouni's careful and detailed development and defense of these views."—Mathematical Reviews

From the Publisher