116. Franz Lauczizky “Textbook of Logic”

This book is intended for the teaching of logic at Austrian grammar schools. We do not believe that it represents a significant advance on the excellent outlines by Zimmermann and Lindner. The many digressions on petty and minute logical problems disturb the clear course of the whole, which should be observed at the first level of logical instruction. It is of little use if the more important points are emphasized in larger print. It is not important that the pupil should be able to absorb the important and leave out the less important, but that the logical structure of the lesson should be presented in a coherent, developing, organic way. By merely juxtaposing the definitions of concept, judgment and conclusion, nothing is achieved. Development of the forms of thought apart is the main thing. The book is too much an aggregate of definitions. The best part is the second part, where the author speaks of scientific methods. The less schematic, more coherent, more substantive presentation should also have been followed for the first part. The text is not a textbook, but a reference and revision book. For the high school student, it is important to become aware of the course and laws of thought in their context; pedantic classifications and schematizations of individual things, to which the author attaches such importance, only confuse the beginner and distract him from the main points. It is not a register of all logical concepts that is desirable for him, but a guide that leads him to learn to "think about thinking".