Goodbye Descartes: End of Logic and the Search for a New Cosmology of the Mind - Softcover

Devlin, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471251860 ISBN 13: 9780471251866

Publisher: John Wiley &Sons, 1998

Synopsis

"[Goodbye, Descartes] is certain to attract attention and controversy..a fascinating journey to the edges of logical thinking and beyond." -Publishers Weekly (???) Critical Acclaim for Keith Devlin's Previous Book Mathematics: The Science of Patterns "A book such as this belongs in the personal library of everyone interested in learning about some of the most subtle and profound works of the human spirit." -American Scientist "Devlin's very attractive book is a well-written attempt to explain mathematics to educated nonmathematicians . the basic ideas are presented in a clear, concise, and easily understood manner. Highly recommended." -Choice "[Devlin] has found an interesting way of exhibiting how mathematics is unified . the author's presentation is a tour de force." -Mathematical Reviews A Selection of the Newbridge Library of Science and Reader's Subscription

About this title

From the Author

Be prepared to be challenged
When New Scientist gave "Goodbye Descartes" a highly enthusiastic review in its April 12, 1997, issue (see the web version of the review at http://www.nsplus.com/ns/970412/review.html), it prompted a small flood of mail from readers of the book and/or the review who had misunderstood one or more of the examples (particularly the notorious Monty Hall Problem) or the book's overall argument. New Scientist are currently running a web discussion on the Monty Hall problem, based on the original review of "Goodbye Descartes". Check the "Biteback" section of the web edition of New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com).

If you only like to read books that reinforce your cosy view of how things are, and if you have a strong belief that science can answer all questions and computers will one day be just like ourselves, you should perhaps avoid reading "Goodbye Descartes". If, on the other hand, you have an open mind and like a good challenge, take a look and decide for yourself.

-- Keith Devlin

From the Back Cover

"[Goodbye, Descartes] is certain to attract attention and controversy . . . a fascinating journey to the edges of logical thinking and beyond."—Publishers Weekly(P).

"A masterly survey of Aristotelian and Stoic logic, of George Boole's 19th-century "algebra of thought," [and] of the contemporary project to produce a talking computer."—Wall Street Journal.

"Superb historical analysis of how 'mind' and natural language came to be understood as products of a logic machine. . . . This is frontier science, conveyed by a practitioner who cares about and knows how to enliven the relevant history."—Wilson Quarterly.

What are the laws of thought that allow human beings to reason and communicate so effectively? Can rules of thought and language be written down and programmed into computers that will one day think and communicate as well as we do?

In a lively and stimulating narrative, acclaimed author Keith Devlin chronicles scientists' centuries-old quest to discover the laws of thought, from the astonishingly adept efforts of the ancient Greeks, to the invention of the first primitive "thinking machine" in the late nineteenth century, to radical findings that are challenging the very notion that the mind follows logical rules.

A Selection of the Newbridge Library of Science and Reader's Subscription

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley &Sons
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0471251860
• ISBN 13: 9780471251866
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 316