A Semantic Analysis of Inference Involving Venn Diagrams

Reasoning with Diagrammatic Representations

Volume

Reasoning with Diagrammatic Representations

Contents

My thesis, Valid Reasoning and Visual Representation (1991), challenges general prejudice ag ainst visualization in the history of logic and mathematics by providing a semantic analysis of two graphical representation systems -- a traditional Venn diagram representation system and an extension of it. I present these two diagrammatic systems as standard formal representation systems equipped with their own syntax and semantics. I also show that these two systems are sound and complete. In the following, I lay out an outline of the thesis.