Avi Sion is a logician-philosopher
(Ph. D.), an independent researcher and writer now residing in Switzerland.
The present blog at blogger.com, avi-sion.blogspot.com,
is meant to inform people on Avi Sion’s works, showing the Abstracts and Tables of Contents of his 21 published books on
logic, philosophy and spirituality. Each blog post details one of the books.
The present post provides an introductory summary. It lists the 21 books in the
order in which the posts have been published.
All of Avi Sion’s published books can be purchased at Amazon.com (in paperback or kindle/.mobi form), and at Lulu.com (in hardcover, paperback or e-book/.epub form), as well as other online stores.
They can also be read online free of charge, chapter by chapter, at www.TheLogician.net and, in '3D flipbook' format, at www.AviSionBooks.com, as well as in Google Books, the Internet Archive, and other sites on the web. They are also available in many university and public libraries.
Introductory Summary
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Future Logic is
an original and wide-ranging treatise of formal logic. It deals with
deduction and induction, of categorical and conditional propositions,
involving the natural, temporal, extensional, and logical modalities. This is
the first work ever to strictly formalize the inductive processes of
generalization and particularization, through the novel methods of factorial
analysis, factor selection and formula revision. This is the first work ever
to develop a formal logic of the natural, temporal and extensional types of
conditioning (as distinct from logical conditioning), including their
production from modal categorical premises.
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prices: hardcover (in Lulu.com only) = $40; paperback = $25; e-book = $5.
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Judaic logic engages in a formal analysis of Biblical, Talmudic and Rabbinic logic. It is an original
inquiry into the forms of thought determining Jewish law and belief, from the
impartial perspective of a logician. Judaic Logic attempts to honestly
estimate the extent to which the logic employed within Judaism fits into the
general norms, and whether it has any contributions to make to them.
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prices: hardcover (in Lulu.com only) = $40; paperback = $25; e-book = $5.
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Buddhist Illogic engages in a critical analysis of Nagarjuna's arguments. The 2nd Century CE Indian philosopher Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamika
(Middle Way) school of Mahayana Buddhism, which strongly influenced Chinese,
Korean and Japanese Buddhism, as well as Tibetan Buddhism. His writings
include a series of arguments purporting to show the illogic of logic, the
absurdity of reason. He considers this the way to verbalize and justify the
Buddhist doctrine of “emptiness” (Shunyata). The present essay demonstrates
the many sophistries involved in Nagarjuna’s arguments.
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prices: paperback = $12; e-book = $2.
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Phenomenology
is the study of appearance as such. It is a branch of both Ontology and
Epistemology, since appearing is being known. By an ‘appearance’ is meant any
existent which impinges on consciousness, anything cognized, irrespective of
any judgment as to whether it be ‘real’ or ‘illusory.’ The evaluation of a
particular appearance as a reality or an illusion is a complex process,
involving inductive and deductive logical principles and activities. Opinion
has to earn the status of strict knowledge.
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prices: paperback = $20; e-book = $2.50.
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Volition and Allied
Causal Concepts is a work of aetiology and metapsychology. Aetiology is
the branch of philosophy and logic devoted to the study of causality (the
cause-effect relation) in all its forms; and metapsychology is the study of
the basic concepts common to all psychological discourse, most of which are
causal. This is a work of ambitious scope, intent on finally resolving
philosophical and logical issues that have always impeded progress in
psychology.
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prices: paperback = $20; e-book = $2.50.
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Ruminations is
a collection of sundry notes and essays on Logic. These complement and enrich
the author’s past writings, further analyzing or reviewing certain issues.
Some important new insights are included here, such as the inductive
understanding of negation.
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prices: paperback = $20; e-book = $2.50.
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Meditations. A
meditation is a voluntary exercise intended to increase awareness, sustained
over some time. The main purpose of this book is to inspire and assist
readers to practice meditation of some sort, and in particular ‘sitting
meditation’.
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prices: paperback = $12; e-book = $2.
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Logical and
Spiritual Reflections is a collection of six shorter philosophical works,
including: Hume’s Problems with
Induction; A Short Critique of
Kant’s Unreason; In Defense of
Aristotle’s Laws of Thought; More
Meditations; Zen Judaism; No to Sodom.
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prices: hardcover (in Lulu.com only) = $40; paperback = $25; e-book = $5.
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No to Sodom is
an essay against homosexuality, using biological, psychological, spiritual,
ethical and political arguments.
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prices: paperback = $6; e-book = $1.
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Zen Judaism is
a frank reflection on the tensions between reason and faith in today’s
context of knowledge, and on the need to inject Zen-like meditation into
Judaism. This work also treats some issues in ethics and theodicy.
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prices: paperback = $10; e-book = $1.50.
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More Meditations
is a sequel to the author’s earlier work, Meditations.
It proposes additional practical methods and theoretical insights relating to
meditation and Buddhism. It also discusses certain often glossed over issues
relating to Buddhism – notably, historicity, idolatry, messianism,
importation to the West.
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prices: paperback = $10; e-book = $1.50.
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In Defense of
Aristotle’s Laws of Thought addresses, from a phenomenological
standpoint, numerous modern and Buddhist objections and misconceptions
regarding the basic principles of Aristotelian logic.
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prices: paperback = $10; e-book = $1.50.
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A Short Critique of
Kant’s Unreason is a brief critical analysis of some of the salient
epistemological and ontological ideas and theses in Immanuel Kant’s famous
Critique of Pure Reason. It shows that Kant was in no position to criticize
reason, because he neither sufficiently understood its workings nor had the
logical tools needed for the task.
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prices: paperback = $10; e-book = $1.50.
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Hume’s Problems
with Induction is intended to describe and refute some of the main doubts
and objections David Hume raised with regard to inductive reasoning. It
replaces the so-called problem of induction with a principle of induction.
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prices: paperback = $10; e-book = $1.50.
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The Self is an
inquiry into the concepts of self, soul, person, ego, consciousness, psyche
and mind – ranging over phenomenology, logic, epistemology, ontology,
psychology, spirituality, meditation, ethics and metaphysics. This book is a
thematic compilation drawn from past works by the author over a period of
eighteen years.
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prices: paperback = $12; e-book = $2.
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Ethics is a
collection of thoughts on the method, form and content of Ethics. This book
is a thematic compilation drawn from past works by the author, over a period
of thirteen years.
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prices: paperback = $20; e-book = $2.50.
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Theology is
about God and Creation, or more precisely perhaps about our ideas of them,
how they are formed and somewhat justified, although it is stressed that they
can be neither proved nor disproved. This book is a thematic compilation
drawn from past works by the author over a period of thirteen years.
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prices: paperback = $10; e-book = $1.50.
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The Logic of
Causation is a treatise of formal logic and of aetiology. It is an
original and wide-ranging investigation of the definition of causation
(deterministic causality) in all its forms, and of the deduction and
induction of such forms. The work was carried out in three phases over a
dozen years (1998-2010), each phase introducing more sophisticated methods
than the previous to solve outstanding problems.
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prices: hardcover (in Lulu.com only) = $40; paperback = $25; e-book = $5.
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Logical Philosophy is
a compendium of five works by Avi Sion published in 2002-06, namely: Phenomenology (2003), Volition and Allied Causal Concepts
(2004), Meditations (2006), Ruminations (2005), and Buddhist Illogic (2002). These works
together define what may be termed ‘Logical Philosophy’, i.e. philosophical
discourse distinguished by its steadfast reliance on inductive and deductive
logic to resolve epistemological and ontological issues.
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prices: hardcover (in Lulu.com only) = $50; paperback = $30; e-book = $7.
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The Laws of Thought
is an exploration of the deductive and inductive foundations of rational
thought. The author here clarifies and defends Aristotle’s Three Laws of
Thought, called the Laws of Identity, Non-contradiction and Exclusion of the
Middle – and introduces two more, which are implicit in and crucial to them:
the Fourth Law of Thought, called the Principle of Induction, and the Fifth
Law of Thought, called the Principle of Deduction. This book is a thematic
compilation drawn from past works by the author over a period of eighteen
years.
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prices: paperback = $16; e-book = $1.50.
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A Fortiori Logic
is a wide-ranging and in-depth study of a fortiori reasoning, comprising a
great many new theoretical insights into such argument, a history of its use
and discussion from antiquity to the present day, and critical analyses of
the main attempts at its elucidation. Its purpose is nothing less than to lay
the foundations for a new branch of logic, and greatly develop it; and thus
to once and for all dispel the many fallacious ideas circulating regarding
the nature of a fortiori reasoning.
List
prices: hardcover (in Lulu.com only) = $50; paperback = $30; e-book = $7.
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Six additional books published in 2017-8:
(These books can also be purchased in paperback and e-book form in Amazon, Lulu and other online sales outlets.)
Paradoxes and Their Resolutions: This 'thematic compilation' comprises expositions and resolutions of many (though not all) ancient and modern paradoxes, including: the Protagoras-Euathlus paradox, the Liar paradox and the Sorites paradox, Russell’s paradox and its derivatives the Barber paradox and the Master Catalogue paradox, Grelling’s paradox, Hempel's paradox of confirmation, and Goodman’s paradox of prediction. This volume also presents and comments on some of the antinomic discourse found in some Buddhist texts (namely, in Nagarjuna and in the Diamond Sutra).
Logical Criticism of Buddhist Doctrines: This 'thematic compilation' comprises expositions and empirical and logical critiques of many (though not all) Buddhist doctrines, such as impermanence, interdependence, emptiness, the denial of self or soul. It includes the author's most recent essay, regarding the five skandhas doctrine.
This volume includes essays on the laws of thought,
credibility, logical modality, contextuality, adduction, theory formation and
selection, induction of actual and modal propositions, factorial induction
(factor selection and formula revision), the phenomenological approach,
experience, conceptualization, generalization and particularization, causation
and its determinations, volition (freewill) and influences thereon, negation,
and existential import.
Logic in the Torah is a ‘thematic compilation’ by Avi Sion. It collects in one volume essays that he has written on this subject in Judaic Logic (1995) and A Fortiori Logic (2013), in which traces of logic in the Torah and related religious documents (the Nakh, the Christian Bible, and the Koran and Hadiths) are identified and analyzed.
Logic in the Talmud is a ‘thematic compilation’ by Avi Sion. It
collects in one volume essays that he has written on this subject in Judaic Logic (1995) and A Fortiori Logic (2013), in which traces
of logic in the Talmud (the Mishna and Gemara) are identified and analyzed.
While this book does not constitute an exhaustive study of logic in the Talmud,
it is a ground-breaking and extensive study.
Exposing Fake Logic by Avi Sion is a collection of essays written after publication of his book A Fortiori Logic, in which he critically responds to derivative work by other authors who claim to know better. This is more than just polemics; but allows further clarifications of a fortiori logic and of general logic.
Note that the following webpage contains links to all of Avi Sion's websites, where the above books can all be read online: avisionlinks.bravesites.com.
