propositional

Supplementary: Why are we doing these derivations anyway?

3/16/06

So that we can show certain arguments to be valid.

The focus of the course lies with the validity and invalidity of arguments. Now, invalidity can be established by counter-example (by producing an interpretation under which all the premises are true and the conclusion false, at the same time). But validity is a different matter. And the usual approach is to have rules of inference and to do derivations.

Tutorial 8: Reductio ad Absurdum

Logical System

6/2/09 10 Software

Skills to be acquired:

Learning reductio proof, both as plain Negation Introduction and via (double) Negation Elimination (to prove some formulas that do not have negation as their main connective).

Reading

Bergmann[2004] The Logic Book Section 5.1 and 5.4

The Tutorial:

Reductio ad Absurdum is the second of the classical forms of inference.

Tutorial 7: Conditional Proof

Logical System

6/1/09 10 Software

Skills to be acquired:

Learning conditional proof.

Reading

Bergmann[2008] The Logic Book Section 5.1 and 5.4

The Tutorial:

The five remaining core sentential rules of inference are slightly more difficult than the ones that we have met before. They are slightly more difficult in that they require you to make new assumptions, and the correct new assumptions at that. However they follow a similar pattern to each other so mastery of one should lead to mastery of the others.