Course syllabus
In this course, you will learn how to approach philosophical problems from a logician’s perspective. Instead of merely listening to logical theory, you will be engaged in the whole process, from choosing representation and languages, searching for relevant literature, discussing approaches and presenting them to a group. The focus is on applications of modal logic, but no prior experience of modal logic is required. Nor is this a course in how to prove theorems about modal logic. Instead, you will be gradually introduced ideas, results and techniques that you can use in applications and asked to refer to textbooks and articles for further information. We will consider the application of logic to three philosophical topics, with an intermezzo on modal logic theory to consolidate what we learn through the applications.
PHIL 315 is a Stage III Course for Philosophy (BA major), and for Logic and Computation (BA and BSc major). It is a 15 pt course with a workload of up to 10 hours / week. The prerequisite is PHIL 216 or 222.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:
- Represent novel problems and scenarios using the tools of modal and predicate logic.
- Use axiomatisation and various model theoretic tools to investigate novel logical systems.
- Engage in group project work investigating a philosophical problem using logical tools.
- Exercise your ability to apply knowledge of logical methods in a creative way to articulate your own insights.
- Present the results of your logical investigations in an engaging and accurate manner.
Lecturer
Jeremy Seligman
School of Humanities / Philosophy
Office: 206.445
Phone: ext 87992 / 09 923 7992
Office hours: Mon 10-11 (for this course), Fri 11-12 (general)
Zoom: https://auckland.zoom.us/j/93928444805
Email: j.seligman@auckland.ac.nz
Schedule
Is time real? What is change? Can tomorrow occur before today? Are there points of time or only durations? Does time travel make any sense?
When is is rational to believe? How should our beliefs change with new information? Is there more to knowing than having true beliefs?
A more abstract treatment of ☐ and ◊ to show the similarities between techniques used so far.
What is it for a group to know something? How can our knowledge of other’s knowledge be useful? How do beliefs spread in social groups?
Course contact hours/timetable
Monday 9:00AM to 10:00AM, 206-302
Friday 9:00PM to 11:00AM, 253-103
Classes involve a combination of mini-lectures, individual and group work. Bring paper and writing material.
Assessment
Course Material
There is no textbook for the course, but videos of lectures on the topics of the class will be provided, together with additional reading material and resources for each topic.
Model Logic for Open Minds by Johan van Benthem (CSLI Press 2010) serves as a background reference for many of the topics covered. It is useful but not essential.
You are also strongly encouraged to take your own notes, a summary of which you will be permitted to take into the exam.
Piazza
You may use Piazza for class discussion. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email team@piazza.com.
Sign up here: piazza.com/aucklanduni.ac.nz/semester22020/phil315
Course summary:
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