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Logic Matters
Personal blog · logicmatters.netmathphilosophy
Logic Matters is a personal blog at logicmatters.net about math and philosophy. Since 2012, 54 different Hacker News readers have linked it 78 times, most often “Beginning Mathematical Logic: A Study Guide”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Often recommended · 15 of 35 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Peter Smith's logic site for its Teach Yourself Logic study guide, reading lists, and books on Gödel's theorems and category theory, which commenters use for self-study.
- Recommended for · 15 comments
- Teach Yourself Logic called a helpful self-study guide; Smith's reading lists called 'the gold standard'; his Gödel and category theory books called 'great' and
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 35 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Beginning Mathematical Logic: A Study Guide10 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2020-05-29
- Teach Yourself Logic: A Study Guide6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2014-11-09
- An Introduction to Godel's Theorems (Second Edition) [pdf]3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-08-07
- /resources/pdfs/Galois.pdf3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-12-22
- Category Theory Reading Lists3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-02-25
- Category Theory: Lecture Notes and Online Books3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-12-30
- An Introduction to Formal Logic2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-04-20
- Gödel Without (Too Many) Tears2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-07-20
- /igt/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-05-18
- Category theory – A gentle introduction [pdf]2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-10-22
What Hacker News says?
Not computer science but I learned a lot by going through Teach Yourself Logic[1]. I did not know where to start and how one subject relates to other and this guide helped me a lot. I have followed the guide for two years now and wish for some thing like this for every topic. [1]: https://www.logicmatters.net/tyl/
Comment linking /tyl/
on “Teach Yourself Computer Science”Submitted Teach Yourself Logic: A Study Guide [pdf] as a story · 392 points
HN discussionThis is the field of study called Logic. For a good page with resources see: https://www.logicmatters.net/
Comment linking /
on “How to Mislead with Facts”Submitted Philosophy of mathematics – a reading list (2020) as a story · 261 points
HN discussion> (And would you please consider the possibility that I might not be a complete idiot?) I do not believe you're an idiot. As a matter of fact, I think you're probably a quite intelligent individual that knows a lot about many topics. Looking at your resume, I do get a strong sense that you're a much better engineer that I ever will be, for example. I do however think that, when it comes to this topic, you're out of…
Comment linking /igt/
on “Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem – an interactive tutorial”Submitted Teach Yourself Logic 2017: A Study Guide [pdf] as a story · 257 points
HN discussion"Soundness" is a term that AFAIK comes from philosophy. An argument is correct if it follows logically from the premises, a sound argument is one in which the premises are also "true". In the context of theories, theories are sound if they are not merely consistent but also "true", i.e. correct with respect to reality. You quickly see that this gets us into murky territory where you have to argue, outside of logic i…
Comment linking /resources/pdfs/godelbook/GodelBookLM.pdf
on “Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem – an interactive tutorial”Submitted Category Theory: Lecture Notes and Online Books as a story · 129 points
HN discussionA much shorter guide by the same author in 2 pages instead of 90: https://www.logicmatters.net/tyl/shorter-tyl/
Comment linking /tyl/shorter-tyl/
on “Teach Yourself Logic: A Study Guide [pdf]”Submitted An Introduction to Godel's Theorems (Second Edition) [pdf] as a story · 120 points
HN discussionIn the trend of showing other people introductions to category theory, I recommend Peter Smith's "Category Theory: A Gentle Introduction", available online: https://www.logicmatters.net/resources/pdfs/GentleIntro.pdf It assumes a bit more knowledge coming in, but it's really what made the entire thing stick for me.
Comment linking /resources/pdfs/GentleIntro.pdf
on “An invitation to category theory”Submitted Gödel Without (Too Many) Tears as a story · 65 points
HN discussionYou might like Teach Yourself Logic , https://www.logicmatters.net/tyl/
Comment linking /tyl/
on “Ask HN: How to improve my abstract thinking?”Submitted Category Theory Reading Lists as a story · 56 points
HN discussionMonoids, groups, rings, fields, etc. are all very relevant to cryptography. In general algebraic constructions come up more often than you might think. The idea of a homomorphism though not specific to algebra is prevalent in almost any formal domain. Compilers by and large can be considered homomorphisms that preserve certain semantic properties which if you dig deep enough can be expressed as algebraic structures:…
Comment linking /resources/pdfs/Galois.pdf
on “Abstract Algebra (2016) [pdf]”Submitted Category Theory: Lecture Notes and Online Books as a story · 42 points
HN discussionThis book also has the [backing of Peter Smith][1], who is basically the king of logic-related reading materials (logicmatters.net). I was part of a student reading group studying BCT last year with him, and I found it extremely helpful in the context of people studying for the MMath. One of the most important parts of basic category theory is seeing how adjunctions, limits and universal properties play with each ot…
Comment linking /2017/01/02/tom-leinsters-basic-category-theory/
on “Basic Category Theory”Submitted Category theory – A gentle introduction [pdf] as a story · 24 points
HN discussionPerhaps not quite what you are looking for, but I've found the book reviews etc on this site very useful http://www.logicmatters.net/tyl/
Comment linking /tyl/
on “The Mathematics Autodidact’s Aid (2005) [pdf]”Submitted Teach Yourself Logic 2020:A Study Guide [pdf] as a story · 20 points
HN discussionMy Hackernews! http://www.logicmatters.net/tyl/
Comment linking /tyl/
on “The Mathematics Autodidact’s Aid (2005) [pdf]”Submitted Teach Yourself Logic: A Study Guide as a story · 20 points
HN discussionLots of reading are available to technical people who are willing. People elsewhere in this thread have mentioned Nagel and Newman, and also Smullyan. Here are two more: 1) Smith's Introduction to Godel's Theorems http://www.logicmatters.net/igt/ is a great book, with all the mathematics but willing to go into the philosophy. 2) Franzen's Gödel's Theorem: An Incomplete Guide to Its Use and Abuse http://www.ams.org/n…
Comment linking /igt/
on “Memories of Kurt Gödel”Submitted Category Theory as a story · 17 points
HN discussionHonestly, the only specific thing I can think of is basic formal logic (predicate calculus, sets, functions, formal proofs, and so forth). (For ex: https://www.logicmatters.net/ifl/ ) The specific technique may have something more, but generally any resources start by assuming you know nothing more than formal logic (if that) and build from there.
Comment linking /ifl/
on “Z3 Tutorial”Submitted Teach Yourself Logic: A Study Guide as a story · 11 points
HN discussionDo you have a decent understanding of first order logic? If not, sort that out first. Peter Smith has a good list of books to choose from: http://www.logicmatters.net/2012/05/teach-yourself-logic-1-f... Then get Smith's book An Introduction to Gödel's Theorems . It explains Gödel's results in great detail and doesn't assume too much background knowledge. A certain amount of perseverance will, of course, be required……
Comment linking /igt/
on “Gödel and the limits of logic”Submitted Category Theory [pdf] as a story · 10 points
HN discussionI really like Peter Smith's "Gödel Without Tears" lecture notes: http://www.logicmatters.net/resources/pdfs/gwt/GWT2f.pdf
Comment linking /resources/pdfs/gwt/GWT2f.pdf
on “What is logic?”Submitted Gödel Without (Too Many) Tears – new version, posting a short chapter a day as a story · 9 points
HN discussion
