PHIL/LING 455.001 – Symbolic Logic

Instructor: John T. Roberts. This course meets MW 10:10 – 11:25 a.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction.

This course will be a demanding introduction to the meta-theory of classical first-order logic.  Topics covered will include the consistency and completeness theorems for first-order predicate calculus with identity and the Lowenheim-Skolem theorems, among others.  We will begin the semester with some relevant set theory.

We will follow a syllabus closely based on the one used by Professor Gillian Russell in recent years.  Our textbook will be _Computability and Logic_ by Boolos, Burgess and Jeffrey.  Students taking the course for credit will be required to do occasional class presentations (in which they show how to solve one particular problem), almost-weekly homework, a mid-term exam, and a final exam.

Registration is restricted to graduate students and senior philosophy majors; other students interested in taking the course are encouraged to contact the instructor.

Prerequisite (for undergraduates): PHIL 155.