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PHIL 155.001 – Truth and Proof: Introduction to Mathematical Logic

Instructor: Min Tang. This course meets via all asynchronous remote (RA) instruction.

This course is an introduction to formal logic for students who have no previous experience with the subject. Logic is the study of arguments and their properties, where an argument is a set of statements, one of which is supposed to follow from, or be supported by, the others, as in:

  • All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

In logic we are interested in characterizing what makes an argument a good argument, and our methods for doing this mathematically (or formally). We will study the Boolean connectives, formal proof techniques, quantifiers, basic set theory, and induction. We will then move on to the topics of soundness and completeness, as well as Godel’s incompleteness theorems.

The textbook, the second edition of Language, Proof, and Logic (LPL) is required for this course. It is available from online bookstores and the campus bookstore (ISBN: 978-1-57586-632-1). You can also purchase an e-version of the book from the LPL website. The website for the LPL textbook is here: https://www.gradegrinder.net/Products/lpl-index.html. Notice that you will need to buy a new copy of LPL because it comes with a unique registration ID which you will need for submitting your homework.