Lewis Carroll - The Game of Logic

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Game of Logic, by Lewis Carroll(#6 in our series by Lewis Carroll)

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Title: The Game of Logic

Author: Lewis Carroll

Release Date: December, 2003 [EBook #4763][Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule][This file was first posted on March 13, 2002][Date last updated: May 10, 2004]

Edition: 10

Language: English

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE GAME OF LOGIC ***

Scanned by Gregory D. Weeks
Transcribed by L. Lynn Smith
Proofed by Reina Hosier and Brett Fishburne

By Lewis Carroll

-|9 | 10|| | || -x || |11 | 12| || | | | ||-y-my'-|| | | | || |13 | 14| || -x'- || | ||15 | 16|

COLOURS FOR
COUNTERS |5 | 6|
___ | x |
| | |
See the Sun is overhead, |y-y'-|
Shining on us, FULL and | | |
RED! | x' |
|7 | 8|
Now the Sun is gone away,
And the EMPTY sky is
GREY!
___

By Lewis Carrol

To my Child-friend.

I charm in vain; for never again,
All keenly as my glance I bend,
Will Memory, goddess coy,
Embody for my joy
Departed days, nor let me gaze
On thee, my fairy friend!

Yet could thy face, in mystic grace,
A moment smile on me, 'twould send
Far-darting rays of light
From Heaven athwart the night,
By which to read in very deed
Thy spirit, sweetest friend!

So may the stream of Life's long dream
Flow gently onward to its end,
With many a floweret gay,
Adown its willowy way:
May no sigh vex, no care perplex,
My loving little friend!

With each copy of this Book is given an Envelope, containing aDiagram (similar to the frontispiece) on card, and nine Counters,four red and five grey.

The Envelope, &c. can be had separately, at 3d. each.

The Author will be very grateful for suggestions, especially frombeginners in Logic, of any alterations, or further explanations,that may seem desirable. Letters should be addressed to him at"29, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London."

"There foam'd rebellious Logic, gagg'd and bound."

This Game requires nine Countersfour of one colour and five ofanother: say four red and five grey.

Besides the nine Counters, it also requires one Player, AT LEAST.I am not aware of any Game that can be played with LESS than thisnumber: while there are several that require MORE: take Cricket,for instance, which requires twenty-two. How much easier it is,when you want to play a Game, to find ONE Player than twenty-two.At the same time, though one Player is enough, a good deal moreamusement may be got by two working at it together, and correctingeach other's mistakes.

A second advantage, possessed by this Game, is that, besides beingan endless source of amusement (the number of arguments, that maybe worked by it, being infinite), it will give the Players a littleinstruction as well. But is there any great harm in THAT, so longas you get plenty of amusement?

I. NEW LAMPS FOR OLD. 1. Propositions....... 1 2. Syllogisms........ 20 3. Fallacies........ 32

II. CROSS QUESTIONS.
1. Elementary........ 37
2. Half of Smaller Diagram. Propositions
to be represented..... 40
3. Do. Symbols to be interpreted.. 42
4. Smaller Diagram. Propositions to be
represented....... 44
5. Do. Symbols to be interpreted.. 46
6. Larger Diagram. Propositions to be
represented....... 48
7. Both Diagrams to be employed .. 51

III. CROOKED ANSWERS.
1. Elementary........ 55
2. Half of Smaller Diagram. Propositions
represented....... 59
3. Do. Symbols interpreted... 61
4. Smaller Diagram. Propositions represented. 62
5. Do. Symbols interpreted... 65
6. Larger Diagram. Propositions represented. 67
7. Both Diagrams employed.... 72

"Light come, light go." _________

1. Propositions.

"Some new Cakes are nice."
"No new Cakes are nice."
"All new cakes are nice."

There are three 'PROPOSITIONS' for youthe only three kinds weare going to use in this Game: and the first thing to be done isto learn how to express them on the Board.

Let us begin with

"Some new Cakes are nice."

But before doing so, a remark has to be madeone that is ratherimportant, and by no means easy to understand all in a moment: soplease to read this VERY carefully.

The world contains many THINGS (such as "Buns", "Babies", "Beetles"."Battledores". &c.); and these Things possess many ATTRIBUTES(such as "baked", "beautiful", "black", "broken", &c.: in fact,whatever can be "attributed to", that is "said to belong to", anyThing, is an Attribute). Whenever we wish to mention a Thing, weuse a SUBSTANTIVE: when we wish to mention an Attribute, we usean ADJECTIVE. People have asked the question "Can a Thing existwithout any Attributes belonging to it?" It is a very puzzlingquestion, and I'm not going to try to answer it: let us turn upour noses, and treat it with contemptuous silence, as if it reallywasn't worth noticing. But, if they put it the other way, and ask"Can an Attribute exist without any Thing for it to belong to?", wemay say at once "No: no more than a Baby could go a railway-journeywith no one to take care of it!" You never saw "beautiful" floatingabout in the air, or littered about on the floor, without any Thingto BE beautiful, now did you?

And now what am I driving at, in all this long rigmarole? It isthis. You may put "is" or "are" between names of two THINGS (forexample, "some Pigs are fat Animals"), or between the names of twoATTRIBUTES (for example, "pink is light-red"), and in each case itwill make good sense. But, if you put "is" or "are" between thename of a THING and the name of an ATTRIBUTE (for example, "somePigs are pink"), you do NOT make good sense (for how can a ThingBE an Attribute?) unless you have an understanding with the personto whom you are speaking. And the simplest understanding would, Ithink, be thisthat the Substantive shall be supposed to be repeatedat the end of the sentence, so that the sentence, if written outin full, would be "some Pigs are pink (Pigs)". And now the word"are" makes quite good sense.

Thus, in order to make good sense of the Proposition "some new Cakesare nice", we must suppose it to be written out in full, in theform "some new Cakes are nice (Cakes)". Now this contains two'TERMS'"new Cakes" being one of them, and "nice (Cakes)" theother. "New Cakes," being the one we are talking about, is calledthe 'SUBJECT' of the Proposition, and "nice (Cakes)" the 'PREDICATE'.Also this Proposition is said to be a 'PARTICULAR' one, since itdoes not speak of the WHOLE of its Subject, but only of a PART ofit. The other two kinds are said to be 'UNIVERSAL', because theyspeak of the WHOLE of their Subjectsthe one denying niceness, andthe other asserting it, of the WHOLE class of "new Cakes". Lastly,if you would like to have a definition of the word 'PROPOSITION'itself, you may take this:"a sentence stating that some, ornone, or all, of the Things belonging to a certain class, calledits 'Subject', are also Things belonging to a certain other class,called its 'Predicate'".