Even Boole, dying at just 49, was well aware that The Laws of Thought would give him a lasting reputation. In a letter penned while his book was still in progress, he betrayed what Prof. MacHale calls an uncharacteristic lack of modesty: "I am now about to set seriously to work upon preparing for the press an account of my theory of Logic and Probabilities, which in its present state I look upon as the most valuable, if not the only valuable contribution that I have made or am likely to make to Science and the thing by which I would desire if at all to be remembered hereafter."
|