Logic and Criticism

William Righter, educated at Harvard and Oxford, has taught English Literature and Moral Philosophy in England and America. He, at the time of the first publication of this book, was with Kings College, Cambridge.

• Preface Part I: The Problem of Judgement 1. On General Theories of Judgement 2. Some Case Studies 3. Aspects of Judging and the Art of Choice Part II: Exactness in Criticism 4. The Pursuit of Logic 5. Logic and Situation Index

Review of the original publication: “The book is in two sections, the first dealing with the problem of judgement, the second with that of exactness and logicality in criticism. In both a considerable amount of space is devoted to discussion of examples from actual critics. Mr. Righter hopes in this way to avoid empty philosophical speculation, divorced as it has often been from the empirical work in the field. He states for example (p. vii) that his is ‘not an attempt to develop a theory of judgement on logical or metaphysical grounds, but rather to set the problem of judgement in its proper context of the things critics say.’ The programme sounds a good one; the problems are real, and the reader is excited at the prospect of the application to them of the sustained and rigorous argument, the precise and careful distinctions, which he expects of a modern philosopher.”-J. M. ELLIS, Analytic Philosophy, Volume5, Issue1, January 1964, Pages 17-19