BOLZANO, Bernard Wissenschaftslehre. Versuch einer aussführlichen und grösstentheils neuen Darstellung der Logik mit steter Rücksicht auf deren disherige Bearbeiter... Sulzbach, J.E. von Seidel, 1837
4 vols, 8vo (209 x 125 mm), pp xvi 571 [3], with folding lithographed plate; viii 568; viii 575; xx 683; a fine copy in contemporary half calf and marbled boards, green parchment labels. £6500
First edition of Bolzano's masterwork, his theory of scientific logic, the precursor of modern logic theory.
Bolzano intended to develop 'a complete theory of science, of which a treatise on logic was to form the cornerstone. From 1820 on, he worked steadily on it, and his four-volume treatise Wissenschaftslehre appeared in 1837. The plan of the Wissenschaftslehre appears in the following subdivision:
(1) Fundamental theory: proof of the existence of abstract truths and of the human ability to judge.
(2) Elementary theory: theory of abstract ideas, propositions, true propositions, and deductions.
(3) Theory of knowledge: condition of the human faculty of judgement.
(4) Heuristics: rules to be observed in human though in the search for truths.
(5) Proper theory of science: rules to be observed in the division of the set of truths into separate sciences and in their exposition in truly scientific treatises...
'The rise of logical semantics, initiated by Alfred Tarski in the 1930s, has led to a revival of the study of Bolzano's logic in the light of modern logic and of his theory of an ideal language. The resemblance that many of the concepts introduced by Bolzano bear to modern logic has led to the opinion that Bolzano may be considered a true precursor of modern logic' (DSB).
see DSB II pp 273-9 and Encyclopaedia of philosophy I pp 337-8; NUC: CtY CCC CU PPULC; OCLC adds UCLA, USC, Georgetown, Kansas, Michagan, Ohio State, Rice, and Marquette
£6500
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