Course Description

This is a second course in symbolic logic. It reviews propositional logic, develops further the logic of quantification, and explores metalogical issues such as the construction, consistency, soundness and completeness of deductive systems. The course also concerns multi-valued or deviant logic, propositional modal logic, quantified modal logic, counterfactuals, and two-dimensional modal logic. Finally, if time permits, Gödel's incompleteness theorems will be sketched.

Course Prerequisites

Students should have completed 'Philosophy 320: Symbolic Logic I' (or its equivalent). It is assumed that students already have a familiarity with propositional logic and predicate logic and that they have constructed proofs using the rules of inference in natural deduction.

Course Objectives

The aim of this course is to introduce students to important metalogical theorems and results concerning first-order logic. It is also to expose students to aspects and extensions of symbolic logic that are relevant in contemporary philosophy -- for example, concerning issues in the metaphysics of modality and in semantics. Finally, this course aims to give students the ability to reflect rigorously on the nature of logic and truth. At a minimum, it is the instructor's hope that students will develop a degree of logical literacy that will allow them to tackle articles written by professional philosophers.

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