Online Course Review: "An Introduction to Formal Logic" (prof. Gimbel, from "The Great Courses")

Informative, fascinating class and a VERY entertaining professor, with a delightful understated humor and clear explanations, motivations and examples.

I was expecting a class entirely about Mathematical Logic... so I was surprised (a good surprise, it turned out) when I discovered that this class roams much more broadly into the Philosophy of Logic.

I was satisfied that enough chapters were about Mathematical Logic - and actually I found the broader context interesting. For example, I had long heard about Aristotle's syllogisms, but had never looked into them.

While there are no Math prerequisites for this class, you'll probably find your head spin by the middle of the course, unless you have a "mathematical predisposition." (I have a Master's in Math, so for me it was a fun and light "feasting on proofs"... but a lot of people might feel differently!) Nonetheless, this great course is quite worthwhile to at least START... and proceed until you are comfortable. The earlier part isn't as technical.

My only complaint - no biggie - is that the production department unwisely made the print too large on the long proof sequences... with the result that a number of proofs are SPLIT over multiple pages: it's a bit of a hassle to precisely move the video back to check on earlier steps. Back in the days of video on analog TV, the print font had to be large, but nowadays?? The whole proof could easily fit on a screen, or at most 2, in most cases.

I congratulate the professor and the Great Courses Plus for producing intelligent, thoughtful, "substantial" courses like this one!

Link to course, including trailer.

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Julian's Polymath Explorations

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