declared that he thought it would be easier to explain the atom if he could use a many-valued logic instead of the usual two-valued logic.
BY a many-valued logic he meant one which denies the principle of reductio ad absurdurn. A many-valued logic states that instead of the two possibilities, in a precise and clear-cut statement of "SO" and "not so," there are n possibilities.
What are these possibilities? Who can say? They are simply called "possibility one," "possibility two," etc. When n is small, there might be a chance of saying what the possibilities are. For instance, when n is three, the possibilities might be "so," "not so," and "undecidable." And so on. However, questions which can be answered in such a way have always dealt with realms where the phenomena are vague.
A general question such as " Do you favor short skirts for women? " might well receive six answers varying from "certainly " to " certainly not." However, the fundamental tenet of a many-valued logic is that not only general questions, but even the most precise and clear-cut statement may fall into any one of n possible cases. Before Dr. &r-icky's suggestion, a many-valued logic had been considered by mathematicians as a rather interesting game, but hardly worth intensive study.
However, Dr. Zuricky seriously requested that mathematicians get busy and develop many-valued logics for use in explaining the atom, and since that time some systematic work has been done on the probelm.