The Laws of Thought

Originally published in 1854, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought , by English mathematician George Boole, launched modern mathematical logic. Boole's major contribution was to demonstrate conclusively that the symbolic expressions of algebra could be adapted to convey the fundamental principles and operations of logic, which had previously been expressed only in words. This reprint of the classic text features an introduction by John Corcoran (philosophy, SUNY Buffalo). Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

GEORGE BOOLE (1815 - 1864)?was born in?Lincoln,?Lincolnshire, England.?Besides rudimentary lessons from his father, a shoemaker, and a few years at local schools, Boole was largely self-taught. Revealing his aptitude for many subjects at an early age, he began his career already at age 16 as a teacher at a village school. In his leisure time he tackled the daunting works of Newton, Laplace, and Lagrange on physics and mathematics. By the age of twenty-four he was submitting original papers to the Cambridge Mathematical Journal and at age twenty-nine he won a medal from the Royal Society for his contributions to mathematical analysis. He continued to so impress his contemporaries that five years later he was appointed professor of mathematics at Queens College, Cork in Ireland, even though he had no university degree.?Boole was awarded the?Keith Medal?by the?Royal Society of Edinburgh?in 1855?and was elected a?Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857.?He received?honorary degrees?of?LL.D.?from the?University of Dublin?and the?University of Oxford.