The Development of Mathematical Logic

This text offers a summary of the history of formal logic from the time of Aristotle to that of Godel. It discusses the four main trends at the root of modern logic: Aristotle's theory of the syllogism; the idea of a universal language; the idea of the parts of mathematics forming deductive systems; and the discoveries in mathematics in the early-19th century. The book goes on to outline the chief ideas and theories of the main writers on mathematical logic, including Jevons, Pierce, Boole, Russell and Whitehead.