PHIL/LING 455.001 – Symbolic Logic

Instructor: Thomas Hofweber. This course meets TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. in CW 213.

This course covers the basic concepts and techniques in the study of first order logic. We will discuss basic set theory and the distinction between different sizes of infinite sets, Cantor’s Theorem, induction and recursion, the meta-theory of propositional logic, completeness of first order logic, the compactness theorem, notions inexpressible in first order logic, the Skolem Paradox, applying compactness to construct non-standard models of the theory of natural numbers and of real numbers, the coherence of infinitesimals, and excursions into second order logic and modal logic.