Phi 270—Elementary Symbolic Logic
Fall 2013—Glen Helman

Instructor: Glen Helman, Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy and Dept. Chair

E-mail: helmang@wabash.edu

Office: Center 214, 361-6334

My posted hours currently are 2:30-3:30 on M and 3-4 on Th (but this can change). I usually arrive on campus between 9 and 10 and leave between 5 and 6, and you stand a good chance of finding me in my office whenever I am not teaching. My other classes meet at 1:10 MWF and 1:10 TTh. (While I am in my office most noon hours, the noon hour is also a common time for meetings and other events, as is the afternoon after 4.)

Home: 314 W. Wabash Ave., 362-0428

This is your best bet evenings and weekends, but try my office too.

Cell phone: 366-0791

Texts

The full text, Notes for Elementary Symbolic Logic, is available on line at http://persweb.wabash.edu/facstaff/helmang/phi270-1314F/home.html (and you can find a link to it on the course Canvas site).

A link to the table of contents is in the navigation table at the top or bottom of this window, and you can find links to individual sections in the calendar and list of topics (which are among the syllabus pages, to which there is also a link in table). Most of the content of the text is also available in PDF format (there are links to that both in the table of contents and the list of topics); however, there are some animated or interactive components that can be used only with a web browser.

The text uses a number of special symbols. These must be available in fonts on your system in order for them to appear in the online HTML version of the text. Such fonts are available on most recent operating systems, but browsers (older versions of Internet Explorer in particular) will not always find their way to the correct symbols. There is a test for problems at the bottom of this page; but some problems are intermittent, so they can show up later even if they don’t appear now. You will stand the best chance of avoiding them if you use a browser other than IE (e.g., Firefox, Safari, or Chrome) and also have the “STIX” fonts installed on your system. Those fonts are available at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stixfonts/ .

http://sourceforge.net/projects/stixfonts/

Grading

Requirements: Grades will be based primarily on 4 tests during the semester and a 5th test during the final exam period (18% each). Each is primarily devoted to the portion of the course since the previous test; however, the material in the course is naturally cumulative, and, in addition, a portion of the final test will consist of questions that are specifically designed to look back to earlier parts of the course. The rest of your grade (10%) will reflect your class attendance and participation and the frequency with which you have handed in homework assignments.

Attendance and homework: You will be automatically excused from a class if you notify me in advance that you will miss it (e-mail or voice-mail messages are fine). After the fact, you will be excused if you give me a good reason or a dean’s excuse.

I don’t credit homework that I receive late (i.e., after the beginning of the class when it is due), so (depending on the circumstances) I may ask you to submit homework in advance if you arrange to miss a class; an excuse sufficient to excuse you from class after the fact is sufficient to excuse you from the homework due that day. But even if homework will not be credited, I encourage you to submit it for feedback, and I will be happy (even delighted) to give you feedback on exercises I haven’t assigned as homework.

Homework assignments will be made in class and are due at the beginning of the next class. If you miss a class, I’ll expect you to seek out the homework assignment for the next class. I’ll be happy to respond to e-mail and phone calls about this, but the assignments should be posted on the class web site by the time of the class on which they are assigned (but sometimes I forget—so don’t count on finding them at the last minute).

Calendar

Aug 30 1.1. Formal deductive logic
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up (i.e., 1, 2, or 4 pages per side)
Sep 2 1.2. What is said: propositions
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §1.2
4 1.3. Beyond saying: pragmatics
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §1.3
  6 1.4. General principles of deductive reasoning
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  9 2.1. And: adding content
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §2.1
  11 2.2. Proofs: analyzing entailment
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §2.2
  13 2.3. Failed proofs and counterexamples
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §2.3
  16 2.4. Using lemmas
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | (no hw on §2.4)
  18 test 1 (chs. 1-2)
old tests | topics | topics pdf
  20 3.1. Not: contradicting content
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §3.1
  23 3.2. Reductio arguments: refuting suppositions
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §3.2
  25 3.3. Negations as premise
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §3.3
  27 3.4. Counterexamples to reductios
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §3.4
  30 3.5. Being guided by the rules
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §3.5
Oct 2 4.1. Or: taking common content
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §4.1
  4 4.2. Arguing from and for alternatives
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §4.2
  7 4.3. Detachment: eliminating alternatives
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  9 test 2 (chs. 3-4)
old tests | topics | topics pdf
  11 5.1. If: trimming content
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §5.1
  14 5.2. Only if and unless
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §5.2
  16 5.3. Conditional proofs: bottling inference
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §5.3
midsemester break
  21 5.4. Extreme measures
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §5.4
  23 6.1. Naming and describing
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §6.1
  25 6.2. Predicates and pronouns
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §6.2
  28 6.3. Arguments involving equations
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §6.3
  30 6.4. Describing models
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §6.4
Nov 1 test 3 (chs. 5-6)
old tests | topics | topics pdf
4 7.1. Generalizations in English
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §7.1
  6 7.2. Generalizations and quantifiers
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §7.2
  8 7.3. Quantifiers and connectives
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §7.3
  11 7.4. Multiple generality
HTML | PDF: PDF file: 1up, PDF file: 2up, PDF file: 4up | hw on §7.4
  13 7.5. General arguments
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  15 7.6. Insuring generality
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  18 7.7. Soundness & completeness
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  20 7.8. Finite & infinite structures
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  22 test 4 (ch. 7)
old tests | topics | topics pdf
Thanksgiving break
Dec 2 8.1. Some
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4 8.2. Uniform generality
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  6 8.3. Numerical quantification
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  9 8.4. Definite descriptions
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  11 8.5. Proofs by choice & proofs of existence
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  13 8.6. Arguments involving descriptive reference
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Tues.
9 am 		17 test 5 (ch. 8 & retrospect)
old tests | topics | topics pdf