Symbolic Logic and Engineering

The inclusion of a course in Symbolic Logic in the senior year curriculum of Electrical Engineers is defended with reasoning drawn from two of its aspects: 1) The historical: A summary of the development of S.L. from Leibniz to Lewis and Lukasiewicz is presented. The degree of attention given to it by prominent men of thought is proved to be a fact that cannot be denied or ignored by any serious, scientific minded scholar. 2) The practical or pragmatic: The impact and the uses of S. L. in modern engineering research are shown to be a factual situation. Some examples are given and authors quoted, aiming at giving workers in fields not related to computer logic, computer linguistics, finite-state machines etc., an overall view of the many particular instances of the use of S.L. in the recent research literature. No speculations are made about the future use and importance of S.L. The enlightened reader will at once perceive the implications of the presented arguments. A selected bibliography of 68 entries supports the text.