Universe of discourse

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The term universe of discourse is generally attributed to Augustus De Morgan (1846).  George Boole (1854) defines it in the following manner:

In every discourse, whether of the mind conversing with its own thoughts, or of the individual in his intercourse with others, there is an assumed or expressed limit within which the subjects of its operation are confined. … Now, whatever may be the extent of the field within which all the objects of our discourse are found, that field may properly be termed the universe of discourse. (Boole 1854/1958, p. 42).

References

• Boole, George (1854/1958), An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities, Macmillan Publishers, 1854. Reprinted with corrections, Dover Publications, New York, NY, 1958.

• De Morgan, Augustus (1846), Cambridge Philosophical Transactions, viii, p. 380.

Resources

• Commens Dictionary of Peirce's Terms
  • Logical Universe
  • Universe of Discourse

Syllabus

Focal nodes

• Inquiry Live
• Logic Live

Peer nodes

• Universe of Discourse @ InterSciWiki
• Universe of Discourse @ MyWikiBiz
• Universe of Discourse @ Subject Wikis
• Universe of Discourse @ Wikiversity
• Universe of Discourse @ Wikiversity Beta

Logical operators

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• Exclusive disjunction
• Logical conjunction
• Logical disjunction
• Logical equality

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• Logical implication
• Logical NAND
• Logical NNOR
• Negation

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Related topics

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• Ampheck
• Boolean domain
• Boolean function
• Boolean-valued function
• Differential logic

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• Logical graph
• Minimal negation operator
• Multigrade operator
• Parametric operator
• Peirce's law

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• Propositional calculus
• Sole sufficient operator
• Truth table
• Universe of discourse
• Zeroth order logic

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Relational concepts

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• Continuous predicate
• Hypostatic abstraction
• Logic of relatives
• Logical matrix

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• Relation
• Relation composition
• Relation construction
• Relation reduction

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• Relation theory
• Relative term
• Sign relation
• Triadic relation

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Information, Inquiry

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• Inquiry
• Dynamics of inquiry

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• Semeiotic
• Logic of information

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• Descriptive science
• Normative science

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• Pragmatic maxim
• Truth theory

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Related articles

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• Cactus Language
• Futures Of Logical Graphs
• Propositional Equation Reasoning Systems

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• Differential Logic : Introduction
• Differential Propositional Calculus
• Differential Logic and Dynamic Systems

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• Prospects for Inquiry Driven Systems
• Introduction to Inquiry Driven Systems
• Inquiry Driven Systems : Inquiry Into Inquiry

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Document history

Portions of the above article were adapted from the following sources under the GNU Free Documentation License, under other applicable licenses, or by permission of the copyright holders.

• Universe of Discourse, InterSciWiki
• Universe of Discourse, MyWikiBiz
• Universe of Discourse, PlanetMath
• Universe of Discourse, SemanticWeb
• Universe of Discourse, Wikiversity
• Universe of Discourse, Wikiversity Beta