Phil 142
Philosophy of Logic
Fall 2006
Professor Paolo Mancosu
Office: 233 Moses Hall
Phone: 642–5033
E-mail: mancosu@socrates.berkeley.edu
Class meets: T.Th. 9.30–11.00
Office hours: T. 11–12.30
Course Description
The course aims at introducing the students to the basic topics in philosophy of logic. Topics to be covered will be selected among the following: theories of truth, logical consequence, modal notions (necessity/possibility) and possible world semantics, vagueness, quantification, existence and descriptions, first vs second-order logic, extensionality vs intensionality, realism and antirealism in logic.
Prerequisites: Phil 12A (or equivalent) [no exceptions!] and at least another course in philosophy
Graduate Instructor:
Mike Caie: caie@berkeley.edu Office hours: T.B.A., Sections: T.B.A., Room: T.B.A.
Textbooks:
S. Read, Thinking about Logic, Oxford University Press, 1995.
Kenneth Konyndyk, Introductory Modal Logic, University of Notre Dame Press, 1986.
Packet of Readings #1: Contains all the readings for the first five weeks. Available at Copy Central, 2560 Bancroft, Berkeley
Course requirements and grading: four exercise sets, midterm, and final. The final grade will be computed as follows: exercise sets are to count for 40% of course grade, midterm 20%, and final 40%. Grading will be in straight percentages (no curve): 90–100% = A range; 80–89% = B range; 70–79% = C range; 60–69% = D range; <60% = F
Schedule
PART I: Connectives, quantifiers and singular terms
Week 1: Introduction; Connectives Readings: A. N. Prior, The Runabout Inference-Ticket, in I.M. Copi, J.A. Gould, eds. Contemporary Philosophical Logic, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978, pp. 37–38.
N. D. Belnap, Tonk, Plonk and Plink, in I.M. Copi, J.A. Gould, eds. Contemporary Philosophical Logic, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978, pp. 44–48.
Week 2: First-Order Logic; formal definition of truth in a model; second-order logic; quantifiers. Readings: W. Hodges, Classical Logic I: First-Order Logic, in Lou Gable ed., The Blackwell Guide to Philosophical Logic, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 9–32.
J. Nolt, Classical Predicate Logic: Semantics, in J. Nolt, Logics, Wadsworth, Belmont, 1997, pp.185–201.
S. Shapiro, Classical Logic II: Higher-Order Logic, in Lou Gable ed., The Blackwell Guide to Philosophical Logic, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 33–54.
J. Nolt, Higher-Order Logics, in J. Nolt, Logics, Wadsworth, Belmont, 1997, pp.382–389.
Ex. Set #1: satisfaction, first order, and second order logic [due after 10 days]
Week 3: Singular terms; Definite descriptions; ontology and existence. Readings: S. Read, Thinking about Logic: pp.121–131
B. Russell, On Denoting, in I.M. Copi, J.A. Gould, eds. Contemporary Philosophical Logic, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978, pp. 85–96.
W. Quine, On what there is, in I.M. Copi, J.A. Gould, eds. Contemporary Philosophical Logic, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978, pp. 135–148.
Week 4: Free Logics, meinongian models and supervaluations Readings: S. Read, Thinking about Logic: pp.131–147
K. Lambert, Free Logics, in Lou Gable ed., The Blackwell Guide to Philosophical Logic, Blackwell 2001, pp. 258–279.
J. Nolt, Supervaluations, in J. Nolt, Logics, Wadsworth, Belmont, 1997, pp.414–419.
E. Bencivenga, Free from What?, in E. Bencivenga, Looser Ends, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1989, pp. 120–129.
Ex. Set #2: free logics and supervaluations [due after 10 days]
Week 5: Sentences, statements, propositions.
Readings: R. E Grandy, What do ‘Q’ and ‘R’ stand for anyway?, in R.I. Hughes, A Philosophical Companion to First-Order Logic, Hackett, Indianapolis, 1993, pp.50–61.
Part II: Truth, Logical Consequence and Relevance
Exercise set #3.
Part III: Modalities
Exercise set # 4.
Topics and readings for part II, and III will be announced later in the semester.
Updated on Tue Aug 15 17:00:26 -0700 2006 by Paolo Mancosu