History of Logic Seminar Series - Talk: Guido Gherardi, "An analysis of Boole's method of developments" (26.02.2026)
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We are pleased to announce the fifth session of the second annual cycle of the History of Logic Seminar Series. The session will be held on Thursday, February 26, from 3 to 5 p.m. CET.
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On this occasion, we will host a talk by Guido Gherardi (University of Bologna). His talk is titled An analysis of Boole's method of developments. Here is a short abstract:
I will provide an overview of Boole’s method of developments, the most fundamental principle of Boolean Algebra as originally conceived by Boole himself, based on the following simple observation: developing a class-term f(x,y,z…) is equivalent to consider the intersection of that class with the constituents of the unity, that is, the standard regions into which the universal class is standardly decomposed in Boole’s system. One can see how this equivalence can simplify some proofs given by Boole, e.g., the one proving emptiness of terms occurring with non-dual coefficients in developments. This equivalence can also be used to suggest a possible justification of Boole’s puzzling logical treatment of division.
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