PHIL 210

Fall 2007

MWF 12.30-1.20 (RCB 6136)

Prof. F.J. Pelletier

Office: WMX 5661 (778-872-4855)

CogSciLab: RCB 7406 (778-872-5674)

Email (best way to contact me): jeffpell@sfu.ca

This course is an introduction to symbolic logic. Logic has played a central role in the training of educated people since its origin in the writings of Aristotle. In the nineteenth century, mathematical techniques reshaped the traditional, Aristotelian conception of logic. The result, symbolic logic, has dominated the study of reasoning in the twentieth century. The aim of this course is to introduce students to twentieth-century logic. Together, Phil 210 and 214 survey both the well-established core of modern logic, consisting of sentential and predicate logic and also some of the exciting periphery – extensions of sentential and predicate logic.

Logic occupies an important position in contemporary university curricula for much the same reason it occupied such a position in ancient academies, medieval centers of learning, and Enlightenment universities: Its object of study, reasoning, is fundamental to all intellectual activity and to most other human endeavors. Logic can be introduced in a variety of ways, ranging from studying it as an abstract, mathematical structure to studying its use in such applications as computer science and law. In this course we will focus on reasoning in natural language, using the technique of representing natural language utterances in a formal, symbolic system.

Textbook: M. Bergmann, J. Moor, J. Nelson The Logic Book 4^th Edition (be sure to get the fourth edition!) McGraw Hill Publishers.

Grading: There will be homework every two weeks. I will pass out the assignment a week before it is due, and you will turn it in the next week...at the beginning of class, since I will then go over the homework. If you have not finished your homework, turn in what you have done and it will be given the appropriate grade. Your homework is worth 50% of your total grade, and therefore it is important that you do it faithfully! (There will be six homework assignments, each worth 8.33% of your total grade.) In addition, there will be a midterm exam held during midterm week (or possibly the following week) which is worth 20% of your total grade; and there is a final exam which is worth 30% of your total grade. The final exam will cover material from the entire course, although it will naturally emphasize material from after the midterm exam. The exams will contain problems similar to the homework problems.