Duncan, William. The Elements of Logic in four books. Albany: Printed for Whiting, Backus & Whiting. Sold by them and Whiting, Goodrich & Co. Utica, and Whiting Bemis & Co. York, Upper Canada, 1804. [12451]
Full calf, some scuffs yet without damage, fine joints, red leather title label in gilt, gilt lines to spine, 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches. Lacks the front free end papers (blanks). [i]-11, [xii], [13]-278, [2] pp. of adverts. Text is clean, tight; several contemporary signatures, mainly on the blank pages. Good. Hardcover.
Title continues: Book I. Of the original of our ideas, their various divisions, and the manner in which they contribute to the increase of knowledge; with a philosophical account of the rise, progress, and nature of human language. Book II. Of the grounds of human judgement, the doctrine of propositions, their use in reasoning, and the division into self-evident and demonstrable. Book III. Of reasoning and demonstration, with their application to the investigation of knowledge, and the common affairs of life. Book IV. Of the methods of invention and science, where the several degrees of evidence are examined, the notion of certainty is fixed and stated, and the parts of knowledge in which may be attained, demonstrated at large. Designed particularly for Young Gentlemen in the University; and to prepare the way to the Study of Philosophy and the Mathematics.
William Duncan (1717-1760), b. & d. at Aberdeen, Scotland. Educated at Marischall College, Aberdeen, he was the first Professor of Natural Philosophy in that institution. His popular Elements of Logic first appeared in Dodsley's The Preceptor in 1748. It is said to combine a Lockean theory of knowledge with syllogistic logic.
