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  • Symbolic Logic may just be an old-timey way of describing a 'Programming Language' or 'Boolean Logic'. I did however find this: isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2687890 which is listed as 'non-fiction' Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 11:01
  • @AncientSwordRage It is most definitely NOT a synonym for Boolean logic in the book. Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 13:57
  • I recall that Psychology and Sociology were sciences in that future, with a mathematical basis. The main character was an expert in that new field, sent as the ship's "morale officer". I assume Symbolic Logic was something to do with that. Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 21:02
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    The "Symbolic Logic" in the book is almost certainly symbolic logic, which is very much not fictional. Commented Jul 3, 2020 at 1:17
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    @Mark I think you're right. van Vogt was really interested in this sort of thing and based several of his novels on various logic systems (e.g. the NULL-A books). Voyage is actually a rework of his own (his first work) short story "Black Destroyer" from 1938 which is a few year after Gödels initial works (1929 and 1931) on Symbolic Logic. Commented Jul 3, 2020 at 8:22