Laws of Form (hereinafter LoF) is a book by G. Spencer-Brown, published in 1969, that straddles the boundary between mathematics and philosophy. LoF describes three distinct logical systems:
- The "primary arithmetic" (described in Chapter 4 of LoF), whose models include Boolean arithmetic;
- The "primary algebra" (Chapter 6 of LoF), whose models include the two-element Boolean algebra (hereinafter abbreviated 2), Boolean logic, and the classical propositional calculus;
- "Equations of the second degree" (Chapter 11), whose interpretations include finite automata and Alonzo Church's Restricted Recursive Arithmetic (RRA).
"Boundary algebra" is Meguire's (2011)[1] term for the union of the primary algebra and the primary arithmetic. Laws of Form sometimes loosely refers to the "primary algebra" as well as to LoF.
Author(s): George Spencer BROWN
Edition: 1
Publisher: Julian Press
Year: 1972
Language: English
Pages: 169
City: New York
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
A NOTE ON THE MATHEMATICAL APPROACH
Table of Contents
1 The form
2 Forms taken out of the form
3 The conception of calculation
4 The primary arithmetic
5 A calculus taken out of the calculus
6 The primary algebra
7 Theorems of the second order
8 Re-uniting the two orders
9 Completeness
10 Independence
11 Equations of the second degree
12 Re-entry into the form
Notes
Appendix 1 PROOFS OF SHEFFERS POSTULATES
Appendix 2 THE CALCULUS INTERPRETED FOR LOGIC
INDEX OF REFERENCES
