161-438 is Logic and Philosophy, an honours unit in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. In Semester 2, 2006, we’ll be studying work in proof theory and its application to semantics and other philosophical issues.
This document is http://consequently.org/edit/page/161-438_in_2006 – visit the page to see it updated, or to add your own information.
Administrative Details
- Where and When: Old Quad Moot Court, Wednesdays from 11am to 1pm.
- Text: Course notes will be supplied. Mostly, we’ll be using my book draft Proof Theory and Philosophy, which I’m writing.
- Assessment: There will be four batches of exercises set during the semester (to keep you up-to-date on the technical details) and a final essay of approximately 3000 words due on Monday, November 20. Here are some sample essay topics.
- Batch 1. Select three exercises from Section 2.1 in Proof Theory and Philosophy and write them up to submit to me. You are free to choose any exercises you like, provided that they are exercises you find difficult but not impossible. The exercises are due on Wednesday August 9.
- Batch 2. Select three exercises from Sections 2.2 and 2.3 in Proof Theory and Philosophy, or feel free to substitute one or two exercises with a (roughly) two page discussion of the Prior--Stevenson--Belnap exchange in Analysis on ‘tonk’. Again, the idea is to stretch yourself but to not attempt the impossible. The exercises are due on Wednesday August 30.
- Batch 3. Select two exercises from Section 2.4 in Proof Theory and Philosophy, or feel free to substitute one exercise with a (roughly) two page discussion of any of the sections in Chapter 3. The exercises are due on Wednesday October 4.
- Grading: The exercises are worth 20% and the final essay is worth 80%.
- The exercises are marked on a pass/fail basis. You are assigned 20% if you submit your all your exercises (that you find difficult but not impossible) as requested on the due date.
- The essay will be on a topic selected halfway through the course. It will be double marked by Greg and another member of staff.
- Coordinator: Greg Restall.
Timetable
The timetable is a little bit flexible, but here is my plan for the next few weeks. I’ll update this document as the semester goes on.
- July 26: Introduction; Chapter 1 (Motivation) and Chapter 2, Section 2.1 (Natural Deduction for Conditionals).
- August 2: Revision of 2.1; Section 2.2 (Sequents)
- August 9: Revision of 2.2; Section 2.3 (Comparison between Natural Deduction and Sequents)
- August 16: Revision of 2.2 and 2.3 – examples of lattice sequent derivations, sequents for conjunction, disjunction and implication, and a preliminary discussion of ‘tonk’. (From Chapter 3.)
- August 23: More 2.3! A discussion of intuitionistic and classical sequents, motivating the structure of sequents in both cases; asking questions about what this might mean in terms of assertion and denial (More from Chapter 3.)
- August 30: Rescheduled, due to illness.
- September 6: Section 2.4: Circuits for classical and linear logic.
- September 13: Assertion and Denial; Achilles and the Tortoise.
- Monday September 18 (make-up class): Quantification and Generality.
Readings
Other books which could be helpful are:
- Neil Tennant’s Natural Logic, 511.3 T289.
- Anne Troelstra and Helmut Schwichtenberg’s Basic Proof Theory, 511.3 TROE.
- David Bostock’s Intermediate Logic, 160 BOST.
- Sam Buss’ Handbook of Proof Theory, 511.3 HAND.
If you find other material online that is relevant to the course, add links here:
I have digital copies of some manuscripts available at http://consequently.org/161-438_Readings, which are restricted to participants in 161-438. Ask me for the username/password download them. Currently, the directory contains material from
- Gentzen’s “Investigations into Logical Deduction” from the Szabo collection of his papers.
- Prawitz’s Natural Deduction.
Participants
If you’re a participant in the course, you can add your name here when you edit this page. (For instructions on how to edit, check How To Participate, and muck around in the Sand Box.)