Subject: Flavors of logic, book references
From: Dirk.Bellemans@skynet.be (Dirk Bellemans)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 07:52:17 GMT
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POSTING, SINCE IT IS POSTED TO SEVERAL
GROUPS.
Every other week, I run into questions for books about Fuzzy Logic,
Paraconsistent Logic, Default Reasoning, Modal Logic and so on.
Hence, a list of books, my personal favorites:
1. Modal logic:
G.E.HUGHES & M.J.CRESSWELL ;1968,1990;An introduction to Modal
Logic;Routledge,London,NewYork;ISBN:0-415-04313-1
2. Fuzzy Logic:
Eds.E.E.KERRE;1993;Introduction to the basic principles of fuzzy set
theory and some of its applications;Communication and
Cognition,Ghent;ISBN:90-70963-41-8;http://www.rug.ac.be/
3. Paraconsistent Logic:
Eds.G.PRIEST;1989;Paraconsistent Logic-Essays on the
Inconsistent;Philosophia Verlag,Munich,Hamden,Wien;ISBN:3-88405-058-3
4. Non-monotonic reasoning:
W.LUKASZEWICZ;1990;Non-monotonic reasoning formalization of
commonsense reasoning;Ellis Horwood Ltd,New
York,London,Toronto,Sydney,Tokyo,Singapore;ISBN:0-13-624446-7
All these editors have an extensive list of books on Logic and the
like. Here are the paper mail addresses (may have been changed).
ROUTLEDGE
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA
COMMUNICATION AND COGNITION
Bandijnberg 2
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
May not be found in any bookstore, but credit cards accepted.
PHILOSOPHIA VERLAG
Address Unknown
ELLIS HORWOOD
Market Cross House, Cooper Street, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1EB,
England, UK
And for the dummies: through TELNET you can find almost any printed
book at the library of congress
locis.loc.gov
PLEASE DO *NOT* REPLY TO THIS POSTING
Thank you,
Dirk.Bellemans@skynet.be
Dirk Bellemans
Master in Philosophy
I have no opinions whatsoever.
Whatever I write is merely an academic possibility.
Subject: Flavors of logic, book references
From: Dirk.Bellemans@skynet.be (Dirk Bellemans)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 07:52:17 GMT
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POSTING, SINCE IT IS POSTED TO SEVERAL
GROUPS.
Every other week, I run into questions for books about Fuzzy Logic,
Paraconsistent Logic, Default Reasoning, Modal Logic and so on.
Hence, a list of books, my personal favorites:
1. Modal logic:
G.E.HUGHES & M.J.CRESSWELL ;1968,1990;An introduction to Modal
Logic;Routledge,London,NewYork;ISBN:0-415-04313-1
2. Fuzzy Logic:
Eds.E.E.KERRE;1993;Introduction to the basic principles of fuzzy set
theory and some of its applications;Communication and
Cognition,Ghent;ISBN:90-70963-41-8;http://www.rug.ac.be/
3. Paraconsistent Logic:
Eds.G.PRIEST;1989;Paraconsistent Logic-Essays on the
Inconsistent;Philosophia Verlag,Munich,Hamden,Wien;ISBN:3-88405-058-3
4. Non-monotonic reasoning:
W.LUKASZEWICZ;1990;Non-monotonic reasoning formalization of
commonsense reasoning;Ellis Horwood Ltd,New
York,London,Toronto,Sydney,Tokyo,Singapore;ISBN:0-13-624446-7
All these editors have an extensive list of books on Logic and the
like. Here are the paper mail addresses (may have been changed).
ROUTLEDGE
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA
COMMUNICATION AND COGNITION
Bandijnberg 2
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
May not be found in any bookstore, but credit cards accepted.
PHILOSOPHIA VERLAG
Address Unknown
ELLIS HORWOOD
Market Cross House, Cooper Street, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1EB,
England, UK
And for the dummies: through TELNET you can find almost any printed
book at the library of congress
locis.loc.gov
PLEASE DO *NOT* REPLY TO THIS POSTING
Thank you,
Dirk.Bellemans@skynet.be
Dirk Bellemans
Master in Philosophy
I have no opinions whatsoever.
Whatever I write is merely an academic possibility.
Subject: The new philosophy from Heenan: fundamental principles, contrasts
From: john@heenan.ironbark.id.au (John Heenan)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 15:32:48 GMT
Subject: The new philosophy from Heenan: core principles, contrasts
In response to requests, I have elabourated on fundamental principles
in the new philosophy. Contrasts are made with some contemporary
movements and the robust nature of the new philosophy is further
revealed. Comments are made revealing how the philosophy relates to
traditional academic philosophy.
What follows below is a posting of a text version of updated entries
to web pages on http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ohn/philosophy
which mirrors http://shadow.apana.org.au/~johnhe
Below this is a posting of some introductory pages.
The same groups that obtained the former posting on case studies in
the new philosophy (CIA, religion, ineffective leadership).
***********************************************************************
Truth and image in the context of the human condition
Fundamentals of the new philosophy
This posting clarifies core principles of the new philosophy and makes
contrasts with other philosophies and moverments.
The discussion includes traditional philosophical concerns such as,
epistemology (philosophy of knowledge) and metaphysics (philosophy of
existence). Contemporary movements such as Deconstructionism (neither
a philosophy or a science), Objectivism (more a right wing political
ideology) and the philosophy of science associatred with Karl Popper
are discussed briefly. This is followed by a set of draft core and
working principles of the new philosophy.
Philosophy and other bodies of learning, including science, have
traditionally presented themselves in an all encompassing, closed and
final model view of their worlds.
Their is an exception. The20th century philosopher Karl Popper has
proposed a view of the development of scientific knowledge that states
any scientific theory cannot be proved but can only be disproven. He
regards a scientific theory as more valuable or bold according as it
has more predictive power that can disprove the theory, letting
another theory take its place.
Although Popper's view is a profund and extremely important change in
philosophical directions, the new philosophy sees Popper's standards
of what constitutes value as valuable but fundamentally flawed. This
is on the basis that what Popper holds as valuable is dependent on
being able to demonstare inconsistencies within a wider model, that
model itself may be flawed, despite testing according to objective
standards within wider (but possibly flawed) models. The importance of
models will be discussed later on. Additionally while a theory may
have poor predictive power and so be 'scientifically inefficent' it
may be able to provide a vehicle for expression of concepts or
scientific type concerns that cannot be otherwise expressed within a
highly formulated and developed branch of scientific knowledge. This
may be useful as a 'springboard' by those with the capacity to utilise
it.
This brings up another point as to what is the springboard of
scientific inspiration. I propose, it is a sense of discomfort,
possibly with a desire to challenge, that motivates. We can now see we
are moving far from a view of a sterile cycle of scientific
advancement to one of an emotional involvement with scientific
experiences. However this is really an aside.
An examination of the detail of Karl Popper's work reveals a style in
contrast with his view of scientific theory which, like traditional
philosophy, stands as a useless and unusable monument to human
intellectual endeavour. He also has spent much effort on attacking
(possibly quite justifiably) the philosophy and person of Engels upon
which left wing philosophers relied heavily, while apparently ignoring
real issues left wing philosophers raised.
At this point I wish to expand on the point of usability in the
development of knowledge. Scholarly knowledge development is known as
research and the accepted way for notifying a scholarly community of
development or research is through publication in journals. Before an
article (or paper as it is more commonely known) is published in high
quality journals, it is reviewed by peers in that community. If the
paper is published and the results are important then the community is
presented with the oppurtunity to test if the results can be repeated
and tofurther develop the work. How can importance and relevance to a
community be judged? One criteria to test might be conducting a survey
to find how many papers are used as a reference at least once by
another paper. One survey found the highest score went to physics
(40%) and the lowest to the humainities disciplines (less than 1%).
Hence scholarly researchers, who spend relatively little time on
teaching, spend huge amounts of tax payers dollars on work that is
essentially ignored by their own communities!
Hence I have presented evidence to support that most research,
including scientific research is a useless waste of resources,
according to the stated standards of community. However it is not
useless according to those purposes those communites actually support
and which I have discussed on other web pages (see my decleration of
war against universities, which discusses the abuse of reason
practiced in the academic community, including their support of middle
class and business values through abuse of reason)
At this point I will address some traditional philosophical concerns
in a way that will reveal more abot the new philosophy. Metaphysics
(philosophy of existence) is traditionally the pinnacle of philosphy
with, to a lessor extent, epistemology (philosophy of knowledge). A
good starting point to tackle these concerns jointly is the statement
by the French philosopher Rene Descartes "I think therefore I am".
This regarded as a monumental statement in traditional philosophy of
profund significance. The new philosophy regards it useless in its
stated form. We could say, in Popperian terms, it lacks scientific
value. However, we can use it as a springboard, transform it almost to
an opposite and use it to illustrate principles of the new philosophy
(and even Popperian values)!
If we examine the concept of 'thinking' we are really examining the
concept of using experiences, including emotional, that can be
regarded as contributing to and changing a dynamic and wonderful but
inconsistent model of a universe in which a concept and experience of
self and others with a past, present and future forms a part.
Asserting "I think therefore I am" is really asseting that the fluid
(but seemingly static) view of oneself in that model exists. The
trouble is that within the context of the model, an experience of self
only exists within a subjective model of a reality. The experience of
the model, the experience of oneself in it and the experience of
emotions is real! This experience of a model of reality is vital. (To
pin this down more: these statements are being made within the context
of my own dynamic model having myself and other individuals forming
abstract models of their model of their world). To repeat: the
subjective experience of a model of reality is is a real experience.
The following point is vital. The experience of a reality is in fact
due to a reality that give rise to experiences that can lead to a
model of a reality through which powerful theories can be formulated
and tested according to the model of reality. Again, to pin down more,
since the subjective experiences are real experiences that arise from
a reality that does in fact exist, then the model of the reality and
the practical techniques used to advance it, including having a
subjective model of an objective reality from which subjective models
of objective tests can be applied, is extremely valuable.
At this point it should be mentioned that a central concern of the new
philosphy, in the practical arena, is the use of image to alter or
encourage a view of reality that isin fact contrary to objective
criteria. It is asserted universites encourage conformity to style or
image over substance (or reality) and in a section on the plague of
ineffective leadership, the real and hidden selection criteria for
leadership is asserted to be the ability to be smooth over those
difficulties that interfere with an organisation presenting itself
with the image it desires to present
Now what about contemporary movements such as Objectivism and
Deconstructioism. Objecticvism states superficially and somewhat
uselessly that objective reality can be known. It is an even more
useless statement than Descartes "I think therefore I am". The
Objectivist principle is then used, without any logic to justify a
right wing political ideology which bares little relevance to any
social reality. As for Deconstructionism, it is an unstructured and
pointless movement with no central core or set of principles. It mean
spiritedely works to a standard and predictable formulised style that
arbitrarily assigns, from a standard menu set, qualities and
motivations to somehing that is valued in a way that is offensive to
those who value it. It enables insecure peple to make superficial
statements that appear 'deep'. The statements are not deveoped into a
useful body of work. It appears tohave taken a stronghold in English
Literature Departments, which have no scientific or philosophical
traditions in which to evaluate their work and build on it. It
continues on their traditions of ascribing importance to their
superficial output. However the new philosophy would not abandon them!
They are welcome into it (see later) on the basis Deconstructionism
has springboard potential, as discussed previously! The new philosophy
sees value in the challenges and discord sown, rather than what is
mostly superficial substance in deconstructionism!
Their is now sufficient background to outline core and working
principles. A strict methodology or set of solid building principles,
is at the real core of the new philosophy. The working principles is
the dynamic substance of the new philosophy, that are subject to
change under the core principles.
DRAFT CENTRAL CORE PRINCIPLES OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY
Central core principle zero
The philosophy is to be a dynamic living philosophy that accepts it
must change and grow.
Central core principle one
Practical dynamics are to be explored to encourage central core
principle zero: these core principles are concerned witt efficient
methodology
Central core principle two
Abuse of reason is outlawed
Central core principle three
The making of statements that are not unreasonable but cannot be
currently proven is encouraged as long as there is explicit
acknowledgement of this
Central core principle four
Subject to central core principle three, what might appear to be
'contradictory' branches are encouraged but must be explicitly
preapared to accept change and help one another in resolving
contradictions, as part of a practical dynamic.
Central core principle five
The philosphy must be relevant to contemporary life
WORKING PRINCIPLES OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY
This is really a summary of matters already discussed here and
elsewhere
on web pages: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ohn/philosophy,
which mirrors http://shadow.apana.org.au/~johnhe
The new philosopy regards what is commonly held as an experience of
reality as a subjective experience of a model of reality. Experiences
and emotions are regarded as real experiences that interact and
vontribute to the model of reality. Popper's attitude towards science
is regarde as valuable but flawed. His philosophical work is regrded
as unusable. Points about the value of research and the true role of
academic instiutions are made
Deconstrutionism and Objectivism are regarded as superficial. However
Objectivism is regarde as being able to proivide useful springboards
Physics is abused by populists to falsely encourage an attitude that
it is acceptable to abuse reason. This arises by falsely asserting
physics regards sub atomic paerticles as having free will and falsely
assereting physics accepts there is more than three space dimensions.
Since these falsehoods confound contemporary notions of reason and
'common sense', it encourages abusive notions that anyone who relies
on reason is deficient in their understanding and appreciation.
Academic institutions, particularly the arts disciplines within them,
encourage conformity based on superficial fashions despite image to
the contrary. Even undergarduate science courses encourage
assimilation of a body of knowledge according to a standardised and
conformist means of presentation and interpretaion of that knowledge.
To be able to maintain fashionable imagery to the contrary of a
reality, is a highly valuable quality in an employee. Image and
reality is a central concern of the new philosophy
Individuals act in conformity to an invisible cultute, often unaware,
despite image to the contrary, A discussion in the case study of the
CIA
With regard to the political. The world is witnessing a plague of
ineffective leadership. This has been discussed in the context of the
damage done by being able to maintain image to the contrary of what
reality is. We are seeing a growing gap between rich and poor. We are
seeing common sense being confounded with the notion countries with
high labour costs can compete with countries with low labour costs
without protectionist barriers. How many are willing to pay twice as
much for a modem built in ones own country as for an equally good one
in a lower wage country? An example of the contrast between image and
reality (a central concern of the new philosophy) is in this extract
from an ejournal of the Chinese Community.
The best scientific research is seriously subserive to groups of
people. Advances in scientific reserch arise from a complex mix of
inspiration and careful work that draws on a scientists rich
experiences, including emotional and sense of discomfort.
In a case study, the incompatible mehodoligies of science and religion
were contrasted in a posting that demonstrated the abuse of resaon by
a journalist
*****************************************************************
TRUTH AND IMAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
For those viewing the framed presentation, the index below is maintained
in a seperate frame on the top right (with a scroll bar).
For those not viewing the framed presentation, who are running Netscape
2.0 or above and who preferably are using a video resolution at 800x600,
then you can activate frame view now.
General Index
0 The new philosophy
0.1 Fundamental principles
0.12 Core principles
0.13 Working principles
0.2 Recent additions
1. Brief Overview .
1.1 The Practical
1.1.1 A short illustration
1.2 What has been done to date
2 Specific examples
2.1 The 'Decleration of war against Universities'
2.2 Two case studies
2.2.1 Religion and science
2.2.2 CIA organisational culture
2.3 The plague of ineffective leadership
2.4 Extracts from CCF concerned with academia
3. General information and survey form
0.2 RECENT ADDITIONS
Two case studies:
one on religion,
the other on the CIA.
Speculations on a contemporary plague, ineffective leadership, is
made.
Extracts from a Chinese Community Forum e-journal with article
concerned with academia are included.
These are central additions since last public notification to selected
Internet newsgroups. Of the case studies, one is relevant to the abuse
of reason with regard to religion and science and the other on how
organisational culture can abuse reason to negate real stated purpose
of an organisation such as the CIA. This is connected with my
speculations on the contemporary plague of ineffective leadership
The extracts from Chinese Community Forum e-journal Number 9655, 13
November 1996, published on China-Net, are included as it makes
interesting reading in the context of comments I have made about
universities. This issue concerned itself entirely with Academic job
prospects and salaries. For contribution and inquiry, mail to
ccfeditor@china-net.org. Their WWW address is
http://www.china-net.org
The web pages have been made more visually readable. A scrolling
banner display in a text box now times out to avoid using up memory
resources. Another scrolling message in a Window message area has been
removed as it interferes with the display of some useful messages An
email address I used in quoted news postings has been edited to
another one of my email addresses.
1. Brief Overview
These web pages are an expression of concern at the abuse of a limited
but wonderful tool available to humans: the power of reason. It is
intended to place a heavy emphasis on the practical. The sciences are
used ranging from theoretical physics (quantum physics for example) to
the psychological (projection for example). There is emphasis on the
sociological (organisational culture and its manipulation of values
such as communication to enforce conformity, for example). The wide
nature of the matters discussed properly categorise these pages, as
belonging to philosophy, yet there is no appropriate philosophical
classification. Traditional philosophy itself as an intellectual
discipline of value is called into question. It's lack of control
mechanisms, unlike science, make it ripe for abuse of reason. Yet
value is seen in traditional philosophy if we are prepared to
investigate the motivations that have lead to philosophical movements.
As this body of work develops it may acquire a label.
1.1 The Practical
There will be no tidy and neat answers. It is hoped a movement will
develop that will make it more difficult for anyone to peddle tidy and
neat answers without reference to proven experiences. This to apply
whether in the workplace or in the political process. This is not
intended to be an 'ivory tower' exercise. There will be discussion, in
the future, on the growing gap between 'rich and poor', unemployment,
youth and hoplessness, violence in the home, racism and current
political ideologies. It is not the intention to strike 'for or
against' chords, but rather to point out problems in current arguments
that purport to provide solutions, while bringing these issues into a
wider context.
1.1.1 A short illustration
The French philospher and writer Albert Camus stated stupidly "The
poor have no history". It is the poor who have had 'made history'
through revolution and strong expression through cultural forms. It
can be argued academics have subverted the arts to serve middle class
values.
1.2 What has been done to date
Newsgroup postings to a sports group (rec.sport.swimming) eventually
blossomed into a 'Decleration of war against Universities'. The pages
have become better organised, the fundametal principles are the most
recent addion. Although there are other areas of work mentioned below
I wish to investigate more, it was regarded as essential to clarify
fundamental principles and demonstrate the philosophical robustness of
the new philosophy. The decleration of war remains in its present form
as it contains much that is central to the new philosophy pending a
rewrite. Some recent additions mention two case studies, work on which
is still under development. An element I want to investigate more
deeply in the future are the codes of culture or acceptability of
those in postitions of influence or power that work to maintain status
quo or make challenges, in effect, impotent (such as middle class
'niceness'). A start has been made on this with the questions posed on
leadership and the case study on organisational culture in the CIA
(which may have, in effect, made it impotent with regard to its stated
goals but effective with regard to budget goals).
--
John Heenan Tel:(+612 or 02) 9580 3027 Fax:(+612 or 02) 9383 8064
john@heenan.ironbark.id.au http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ohn/philosophy
