It’s not so very often in life that you get a shot at putting right something major, that first time around occupied a lot of time and energy, but didn’t turn out as well as you intended. So I’m grabbing at the chance of preparing a second edition of my Introduction to Formal Logic, trying to make a very significantly better fist of it this time around. A contract hasn’t been nailed down yet, but I live in hope …
So where have things got to with the re-write? Well, you can now see the current table of contents of the reworked chapters 1 to 14. However, I am not going to simply post these chapters in an unrestricted way here (there are issues of intellectual property rights with CUP).
Still, if you would like to see these chapters, then by all means drop an email to ps218 at cam dot ac dot uk. Put “IFL” in the subject line, and add a few words about yourself (undergraduate student? graduate? professor? just interested in logic?). Then I will happily send you an e-copy of these pages on the understanding that (i) you will not recirculate them, (ii) you will certainly let me know any typos you spot, and (iii) you will give me any comments, large or small, that you have. Student comments of the “that chapter was very helpful” vs “I found that section hard going” are particularly welcome. (Though I guess that it’s too late in the day for comments, however well-meant, of the “I really wouldn’t be starting from here!” or “I wish you’d written a different kind of book!” variety. And do remember that, for better or worse, this is a book primarily aimed at beginning philosophers; so it goes slowly.)
Anyone who produces helpful comments will get further instalments of the book over the next six months, and a mention in the Thanks at the beginning of book! Fame at last: how can you resist?! (When I asked for similar help on the second edition of my Gödel book, I got a lot of corrections and suggestions which very much improved the book — and there was little correlation between someone’s official standing and the helpfulness of their comments. So all are most welcome!)