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This book presents a complete English translation of On the Purity of the Art of Logic, a handbook of logic written in Latin by English philosopher Walter Burley (c.1275–1344/5). The work circulated in the Middle Ages in two versions, a shorter and a longer one, are both translated here. The translations are based on the only complete edition of Burley's treatises, corrected here on the basis of one of the surviving manuscripts. The book also includes an extensive introduction, explanatory notes, a table of corresponding passages between the two versions, a select annotated bibliography, and three indexes. A contemporary of John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham, Burley was active at the universities of both Paris and Oxford. He became one of the most important figures in the transformation of medieval logic and semantics that took place in the early fourteenth century. Burley used new tools and techniques of logical and semantical analysis, yet in many cases he used them in defense of traditional views, such as a realist metaphysical theory of “universals.” On the Purity of the Art of Logic shows both these sides of Burley—the innovator and the conservative—as well as some of the ways in which his views corresponded or clashed with those of William of Ockham.

What is a complex system? Although “complexity science” is used to understand phenomena as diverse as the behavior of honeybees, the economic markets, the human brain, and the climate, there is no agreement about its foundations. In this introduction for students, academics, and general readers, the authors develop an account of complexity that brings the different concepts and mathematical measures applied to complex systems into a single framework. The book begins with an overview and a brief history of complexity science. Complexity science is relatively new but already indispensable. Many of the most important problems in engineering, medicine, and public policy are now addressed with the ideas and methods of complexity science. The conceptual foundations of complexity science are disputed, and there are many and diverging views among scientists about what complexity and complex systems are. Its origins lie in cybernetics and systems theory and it is related to dynamical systems theory and the study of cellular automata. The book introduces the different features of complex systems and discusses different conceptions of complexity with the authors documenting their own account. In do so, they explain why complexity science is so important in today's world.