George Boole Quotations
George Boole (2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was an English mathematician and philosopher. As the inventor of Boolean logic, which is the basis of modern digital computer logic, he is regarded in hindsight as one of the founders of the field of computer science.
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The knowledge of the laws of the mind does not require as its basis any extensive collection of observations. The general truth is seen in the particular instance, and it is not confirmed by the repetition of instances.- I am now about to set seriously to work upon preparing for the press an account of my theory of Logic and Probabilities which in its present state I look upon as the most valuable if not the only valuable contribution that I have made or am likely to make to Science and the thing by which I would desire if at all to be remembered hereafter.
- Letter to William Thomson (2 January 1851), indicating his early work on what has since become known as Boolean logic.
- I am fully assured, that no general method for the solution of questions in the theory of probabilities can be established which does not explicitly recognize, not only the special numerical bases of the science, but also those universal laws of thought which are the basis of all reasoning, and which, whatever they may be as to their essence, are at least mathematical as to their form.
- "Solution of a Question in the Theory of Probabilities" (30 November 1853) published in The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science (January 1854), p. 32
- The general laws of Nature are not, for the most part, immediate objects of perception. They are either inductive inferences from a large body of facts, the common truth in which they express, or, in their origin at least, physical hypotheses of a causal nature serving to explain phenomena with undeviating precision, and to enable us to predict new combinations of them. They are in all cases, and in the strictest sense of the term, probable conclusions, approaching, indeed, ever and ever nearer to certainty, as they receive more and more of the confirmation of experience. But of the character of probability, in the strict and proper sense of that term, they are never wholly divested. On the other hand, the knowledge of the laws of the mind does not require as its basis any extensive collection of observations. The general truth is seen in the particular instance, and it is not confirmed by the repetition of instances.
- An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854), Ch. 1 : Nature And Design Of This Work
External links
Wikipedia has an article about: George Boole- Profile at NNDB
- Profile in MacTutor History of Mathematics at University of St. Andrews
- Works by George Boole at Project Gutenberg
- George Boole's work as first Professor of Mathematics in University College, Cork, Ireland
- An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854)
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