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School of Philosophy · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
This course is an introduction to formal logic for students with no prior familiarity with the subject. Logic is the study of validity, a property of good arguments. In formal logic we approach this in a mathematical way, introducing a formal (symbolic) language and using this to study logical properties like logical consequence and logical equivalence. This course begins with truth-function operators and truth-tables, and by the end we have learned a proof-system for first-order logic and established its soundness and completeness. The coursework will include regular problem sets.
Take-home problem sets (2-4 questions on previous material)
Learning outcomes 2, 3, 4
Midsemester examination (approx 2 hours)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 5
Final examination (approx 2 hours)
Learning outcomes 3, 4, 5
In-tutorial group problem sets (2-8 questions as group work)
Learning outcomes 1, 4
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 35 hours of contact comprising lectures and tutorials b) 95 hours of independent student study, problem sets, and research.
There will be a single textbook for the course, which students will need to buy, e.g. "Language, Proof and Logic" by Barwise and Etchemendy (or similar.) All other course materials will be made available on Canvas.