(i) Knowledge and competence. Aim of the course is to introduce students to basic tools and techniques for the verification of the correctness of logical inferences, the main notions of logical semantics Competence includes improving learning skills, extending the toolbox of rigorous analysis, and sharpening the communication means of the students. (iii) Applying knowledge. Students will learn (also through the exercises discussed in class) to apply knowledge to the analysis of specific problems in philosophy and the philosophy of logic in particular
Course Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
Lectures, plus tutorial
Assessment Methods
Written examination, consisting of several multiple-choice questions plus some open-ended questions. The student should be able to correctly apply to the solution of simple exercises proposed in the multiple-choice questions the techniques he has learned and, as far as the open-ended questions are concerned, to explain in a clear and appropriate language the main theoretical notions introduced in the course.
Texts
A. Cantini, P. Minari, INTRODUZIONE ALLA LOGICA. Linguaggio, significato, argomentazione. Mondadori Education, Milano 2009.
Contents
This course introduces the fundamental concepts, ideas and results of contemporary logic. It provides the basics of: classical propositional and first-order predicate logic (plus hints on non classical logics); refutation trees. PROGRAM (i) History of Logic: a short outline. (ii) Logical truth, logical consequence, consistency: intuitive notions. (iii) Logical form. (iv) Propositional and predicate logic: basics (classical connectives and truth-tables; informal semantics of quantification). (v) Propositional and predicate logic: Labelled trees; refutation trees; counterexample extraction. Elementarily valid formulas and inferences. (vi) Classes, relations, functions, cardinality; Cantor’s theorems. (vii) Traditional logic (categorical propositions; traditional square of oppositions; syllogisms).
