Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Course Overview
Modal logic is the logic of necessity and possibility, and by extension of analogously paired notions like validity and consistency, obligation and permission, the known and the not-ruled-out. This a first course in the area. A solid background in first-order logic is essential. Topics to be covered include (some or all of) the main systems of propositional modal logic, Kripkean “possible world” semantics, strict implication, contingent identity, intensional objects, counterpart theory, the logic of actuality, and deontic and / or epistemic logic. The emphasis will be more on technical methods and results than philosophical applications.
Prerequisites
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Homework | 40% |
| Modal Logic Paper | 20% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
| Participation, etc. | 10% |
Calendar
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basic Propositional Notions | |
| 2–3 | Basic Modal Notions | |
| 4–5 | System K | Homework 1 due Session 4 |
| 6–7 | Extensions of K | Homework 2 due Session 6 |
| 8–9 | Testing for Validity | Homework 3 due Session 8 |
| 10–11 | Modal Metalogic | Homework 4 due Session 10 |
| 12–13 | Glimpses Beyond | |
| 14–15 | Modal Predicate Logic | |
| 16–17 | Modal Predicate Metalogic | Homework 5 due Session 16 |
| 18–19 | Shifting Domains | Homework 6 due Session 19 |
| 20–21 | Existence and Identity | Homework 7 due Session 21 |
| 22–23 | Descriptions and Rigidity | Modal Logic Paper & Homework 8 due Session 23 |
| 24–25 | Intensional Objects | |
| 26–27 | Special Topics | Take Home Final due two days after Session 27 |
