Books by "Richard A. Dick"
12 books found
Time and Space in Formal Logic begins with an analysis of assumptions about how logic and language relate. Then in the first section, times are taken to be established by true propositions, and those are related as before and after with temporal propositional connectives. In the second section, times are treated as things that can be picked out and counted, leading to a predicate logic that allows for quantification over times. In the third section, locations in space are also treated as things that can be picked out and counted, leading to a predicate logic that allows for quantification over both times and locations. Many applications of the formal systems to formalizing ordinary language propositions and inferences clarify better the assumptions we make in reasoning taking account of time and space by making those precise in the formal systems. Appendices on events, branching times, intentions, and descriptive names add to the scope of the work.
This series of volumes is meant to extend the scope of what we can formalize in classical predicate logic, and in doing so see the limitations of what can be done. The first section of this volume presents classical predicate logic with equality. In the second section, that logic is extended to formalize reasoning that involves adverbs and relative adjectives by viewing those as modifiers of simpler predicates. What is normally taken to be an atomic predicate, such as "barking loudly", can then have internal structure. Reasoning that involves conjunctions of terms, as in "Tom and Dick lifted the table", conjunctions of modifiers, conjunctions of predicates, and disjunctions of predicates can also be formalized by viewing them as part of the internal structure of atomic predicates. Many questions about the nature of formalizing arise in doing this. The internal structure of names is the topic of the third and last section. Names for functions are used in classical predicate logic to form complex names. In our ordinary reasoning we also use descriptions to form functions, such as "the wife of", and descriptions to form names, such as "the cat that scratched Zoe". To reason with those we can take account of their internal structure by dropping the assumption that every name must refer to a specific thing. The formal systems that are developed here are meant to help us understand how to reason well. Many worked examples show how to use them. Those examples also uncover limitations of the formal work. Throughout this series of volumes, the work proceeds by abstracting and creating formal models to formalize reasoning. By paying attention to the process of abstracting we gain insight into why we consider some reasoning to be good and some reasoning bad, and insight also into the deeper assumptions we make about the world on which our judgments rely.
"It is a tradition in the family that Nicholas Gentry and his brother Samuel Gentry were British soldiers, who came to America at the time of the Bacon Rebellion." Such soldiers were discharged in 1683, and Nicholas and Samuel Gentry became land-owners in New Kent (later Hanover) Co., Virginia in 1684.
Author Hutto presents the quintessential stories of America's oldest money. Readers will meet Joseph Pulitzer, J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt, and other members in the parlors of the Jekyll Island Club, a pristine Georgia retreat.
Michigan Reports
by Michigan. Supreme Court, Randolph Manning, George C. Gibbs, Thomas McIntyre Cooley, Elijah W. Meddaugh, William Jennison, Hovey K. Clarke, Hoyt Post, Henry Allen Chaney, William Dudley Fuller, John Adams Brooks, Marquis B. Eaton, Herschel Bouton Lazell, James M. Reasoner, Richard W. Cooper
1906
Provides personality profiles, historical essays, and first-person reminiscences of the history of the University of Texas. Topics include recurring attacks on the school by politicians and regents, the institution's history of segregation and struggles to become a diverse university, the sixties' protest movements, and the Tower sniper shooting.
In the high-stakes, high-pressure world of presidential politics, where predators carry microphones and one misstep can savage a lifetime of achievement, Kerry Kilcannon is the rarest player of all. Kilcannon believes he can make the system work. And he just may die trying. Driven by the violent nightmare of his childhood, fueled by forces that few could understand, and burdened by secrets no one must know, Kilcannon is running for President—and entering the crucial battleground of California with seven days to go. But for Kilcannon, there are hurdles that his courage, charisma, and compassion may not overcome: the network correspondent he still loves; the reporter bent on their exposure; the rival who’ll do anything to win; and the fanatic who believes that he must murder Kilcannon to protect the right to life. . . .