Euler’s visual logic

Abstract

The evolution of Euler diagrams is examined from Euler's original system through the modifications made by Venn and Peirce. It is shown that these modifications were motivated by an attempt to increase the expressivity of the diagrams, but that a side effect of these modifications was a loss of the visual clarity of Euler's original system. Euler's original system is reconstructed from a modern, logical point of view. Formal semantics and rules of inference are provided for this reconstruction of Euler's system, and basic logical properties are proved

^*The authors’ names appear in alphabetical order. Shin would like to acknowledge support from an NEH Summer Fellowship and to thank Professor Robert Adams for access to the Yale Libraries during her sabbatical

^*The authors’ names appear in alphabetical order. Shin would like to acknowledge support from an NEH Summer Fellowship and to thank Professor Robert Adams for access to the Yale Libraries during her sabbatical

Notes

^*The authors’ names appear in alphabetical order. Shin would like to acknowledge support from an NEH Summer Fellowship and to thank Professor Robert Adams for access to the Yale Libraries during her sabbatical