John Woods (logician)
Encyclopedia
John Hayden Woods is a Canadian logician and philosopher, currently Director of the Abductive Systems Group at the University of British Columbia
(UBC) and The UBC Honorary Professor of Logic. He has also been affiliated with the Group on Logic, Information and Computation, of the Department of Informatics from King's College London
, where he hold the Charles S. Peirce Visiting Professorship of Logic position since 2001.
Woods is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
, and Life member of the Association of Fellows of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
, and President Emeritus of the University of Lethbridge
.
Woods education includes an B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy
from the University of Toronto
, and a 1965 Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan
where his adviser was Arthur Burks
.
Together with Douglas Walton, Woods has authored a number of books and papers on fallacies. According to Frans H. van Eemeren, who calls this body of work the Woods-Walton approach, this is "the most continuous and extensive post-Hamblin
contribution to the study of fallacies".
A festschrift
honoring and discussing Woods' work was published din 2005 by University of Toronto Press
; it also contains respondeos of Woods to the various papers and a profile of him in the form of an introduction.
, Woods has been a co-editor of the eleven-volume Handbook of the History of Logic, published by North-Holland (now Elsevier
), as well as editor, with Gabbay and Paul Thagard, of the sixteen-volume Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, by the same publisher.
Below are a some books authored by Woods.
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
(UBC) and The UBC Honorary Professor of Logic. He has also been affiliated with the Group on Logic, Information and Computation, of the Department of Informatics from King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, where he hold the Charles S. Peirce Visiting Professorship of Logic position since 2001.
Woods is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
, and Life member of the Association of Fellows of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences in Wassenaar, the Netherlands, is an independent research institute in the field of the humanities and social and behavioural sciences founded in 1970...
, and President Emeritus of the University of Lethbridge
University of Lethbridge
The University of Lethbridge is a publicly-funded comprehensive academic and research university, founded in the liberal education tradition, located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with two other urban campuses in Calgary and Edmonton. The main building sits among the coulees on the west side of...
.
Woods education includes an B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, and a 1965 Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
where his adviser was Arthur Burks
Arthur Burks
Arthur Walter Burks was an American mathematician who in the 1940s as a senior engineer on the project contributed to the design of the ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. Decades later, Burks and his wife Alice Burks outlined their case for the subject matter of the...
.
Together with Douglas Walton, Woods has authored a number of books and papers on fallacies. According to Frans H. van Eemeren, who calls this body of work the Woods-Walton approach, this is "the most continuous and extensive post-Hamblin
Charles Leonard Hamblin
Charles Leonard Hamblin was an Australian philosopher, logician, and computer pioneer, as well as a professor of philosophy at the Technical University of New South Wales in Sydney....
contribution to the study of fallacies".
A festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
honoring and discussing Woods' work was published din 2005 by University of Toronto Press
University of Toronto Press
University of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
; it also contains respondeos of Woods to the various papers and a profile of him in the form of an introduction.
Selected books
Woods edited or co-edited a large number of books. Together with Dov GabbayDov Gabbay
Dov M. Gabbay is Augustus De Morgan Professor of Logic at the Group of Logic, Language and Computation, Department of Computer Science, King's College London . He has authored over four hundred and fifty research papers and over thirty research monographs...
, Woods has been a co-editor of the eleven-volume Handbook of the History of Logic, published by North-Holland (now Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
), as well as editor, with Gabbay and Paul Thagard, of the sixteen-volume Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, by the same publisher.
Below are a some books authored by Woods.
- (1974) Proof and Truth, xiv, 192, Toronto: Peter Martin Associates
- (1974) The Logic of Fiction: A Philosophical Sounding of Deviant Logic, iii, 152, The Hague and Paris: Mouton and Co. A second edition was published in 2009 by College Publications, ISBN 1904987990
- (1978) Engineered Death: Abortion, Suicide, Euthanasia, Senecide, xiv, 170, Ottawa: The University of Ottawa Press/Editions de l’Université d’Ottawa. ISBN 0776610201
- (1982) Argument: The Logic of the Fallacies, xiv, 273, Toronto and New York: McGraw-Hill (with Douglas Walton) ISBN 0075480263
- (1989) Fallacies: Selected Papers, 1972-82, iv, 320, Dordrecht and Providence: Foris (with Douglas Walton). A selection was translated in French and published with a new introduction in 1992 as Critique de l’Argumentation: Logiques des sophismes ordinaires, xii, 233, Paris: Éditions Kimé
- (2000) Argument: Critical Thinking Logic and The Fallacies, viii, 344, Toronto: Prentice-Hall (with Andrew IrvineAndrew IrvineAndrew Irvine may refer to:*Andrew Irvine , English mountaineer who died attempting the first ascent of Mount Everest*Andy Irvine , Irish folk musician...
and Douglas Walton). A 2nd edition was published in 2004: ISBN 0130399388 - (2001) Aristotle’s Earlier Logic, xiii, 216, Oxford: Hermes Science Publications. ISBN 1903398207
- (2003) Paradox and Paraconsistency: Conflict Resolution in the Abstract Sciences, xviii, 362, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521009340
- (2003) Agenda Relevance: An Essay in Formal Pragmatics, xv, 508 volume 1 of A Practical Logic of Cognitive Systems, Amsterdam: North Holland (with Dov M. Gabbay) ISBN 044451385X
- (2004) The Death of Argument: Fallacies in Agent-Based Reasoning, xxvii, 375. Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer. ISBN 1402026633
- (2005) The Reach of Abduction: Insight and Trial, xvii, 476, volume 2 of A Practical Logic of Cognitive Systems, Amsterdam: North Holland (with Dov M. Gabbay) ISBN 044451791X