Deductive Logic

"Deductive Logic" by St. George William Joseph Stock is a detailed exploration of deductive reasoning, crafted in the style of a 19th-century academic treatise. The book sets out to systematically explain the rules governing logical thinking, concentrating on how statements, ideas, and conclusions connect within a logical structure, mirroring the traditional logic taught at Oxford. Right from the beginning, the author states his goal to bring together existing ideas about logic, recognizing the influence of thinkers like Mill and Aristotle. The book makes a clear distinction between inductive and deductive reasoning, positioning deduction as a study of how claims relate to each other based on given facts, and then introduces fundamental ideas such as thoughts, the rules that govern them, and the value of formal logic, thus setting the stage for a structured investigation into the nature of terms, propositions, and inferences.