Course Description
This course provides an introduction to the aims and techniques of formal logic. Logic is the science of correct argument, and our study of logic will aim to understand what makes a correct argument good, that is, what is it about the structure of a correct argument that guarantees that, if the premises are all true, the conclusion will be true as well? Our subject (though, to be sure, we can only scratch the surface) will be truth and proof, and the connection between them.
Course Requirements
There will be a homework assignment every week or every other week, and a mandatory 3-hour, open-book final exam. The final will carry the same weight as three homework assignments.
Collaboration Policy
I encourage you to work together on the problems, but when you sit down to write up your final answers, do it by yourself, without looking at anyone else's work.
Course Calendar
The calendar below provides information on the course topics, which are taken from chapters in the course manuscript. The manuscript entitled Logic: The Art of Persuasion and the Science of Truth was written by the faculty member and is available in the readings section.
Course schedule.Chapter # | Topics |
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1 | Introduction: The Place of Logic Among the Sciences |
2 | Sets and Functions |
3 | Sentential Calculus Introduction |
4 | Sentential Calculus Semantics |
5 | Extension Theorem |
6 | State Descriptions, Disjunctive Normal Form, and Expressive Completeness |
7 | SC Substitutions |
8 | The Search-for-Counterexample Test for Validity |
9 | Compactness Theorem |
10 | SC Derivations |
11 | SC Completeness |
12 | Substitution of Equivalents |
13 | SC Translations |
14 | Trouble with "If"s |
15 | Monadic Predicate Calculus |
16 | Derivations in the Monadic Predicate Calculus |
17 | Completeness in the Monadic Predicate Calculus |
18 | Predicate Calculus |
19 | Predicate Calculus Derivations |
20 | Identity |
21 | Russell's Theory of Definite Descriptions |
22 | Sense and Reference |
23 | Function Signs |
24 | Sentential Calculus Revisited: Boolean Algebra |