|
''Laws of Form'' (hereinafter ''LoF'') is a book by G. Spencer-Brown, published in 1969, that straddles the boundary between mathematics and philosophy. ''LoF'' describes three distinct logical systems: * The ''primary arithmetic'' (described in Chapter 4 of ''LoF''), whose models include Boolean arithmetic; * The ''primary algebra'' (Chapter 6 of ''LoF''), whose models include the two-element Boolean algebra (hereinafter abbreviated 2), Boolean logic, and the classical propositional calculus; * ''Equations of the second degree'' (Chapter 11), whose interpretations include finite automata and Alonzo Church's Restricted Recursive Arithmetic (RRA). ''Boundary algebra'' is (Dr Philip Meguire )'s (2011) term〔Meguire, P. (2011) Boundary Algebra: A Simpler Approach to Basic Logic and Boolean Algebra. Saarbrücken: VDM Publishing Ltd. 168pp〕 for the union of the primary algebra (hereinafter abbreviated ''pa'') and the primary arithmetic. "Laws of Form" sometimes loosely refers to the ''pa'' as well as to ''LoF''. ==The book== ''LoF'' emerged from work in electronic engineering its author did around 1960, and from subsequent lectures on mathematical logic he gave under the auspices of the University of London's extension program. ''LoF'' has appeared in several editions, the most recent being a 1997 German translation, and has never gone out of print. The mathematics fills only about 55pp and is rather elementary. But ''LoFs mystical and declamatory prose, and its love of paradox, make it a challenging read for all. Spencer-Brown was influenced by Wittgenstein and R. D. Laing. ''LoF'' also echoes a number of themes from the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce, Bertrand Russell, and Alfred North Whitehead. The entire book is written in an operational way, giving instructions to the reader instead of telling him what ''is''. In accordance with G. Spencer-Brown's interest in paradoxes, the only sentence that makes a statement that something is, is the statement, which says no such statements are used in this book.〔Felix Lau: "Die Form der Paradoxie", 2005 Carl-Auer Verlag, ISBN 9783896703521〕 Except for this one sentence the book can be seen as an example of E-Prime. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Laws of Form」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|