PHIL 2340
Symbolic Logic I

Syllabus

Spring, 2008

Curtis Brown

This course will provide a basic understanding of elementary propositional and predicate logic. Students will learn the language of first-order logic; how to translate between English and the language of first-order logic; and how to construct proofs in first-order logic and evaluate them for validity or invalidity. An integral part of the course will be working with the associated software bundled with our text: Tarski's World, which provides an extremely vivid means of comparing sentences in logical notation with models; Boole, a useful tool for constructing truth tables; Fitch, a tool for constructing and evaluating proofs; and Submit, which will enable you to submit homework exercises for online grading. Caution: this course will probably seem easy at first, and if you keep up with the homework it should remain very manageable. However, later material presupposes a thorough understanding of earlier material, so it is deadly to fall behind.

Jon Barwise and John Etchemendy, Language, Proof, and Logic (Stanford: CSLI Publications, distributed by University of Chicago Press).

TR 8:30-10:30; MW 4:00 - 5:00.

I am usually in my office during office hours, but occasionally a meeting or another commitment prevents this.  If you just drop by during office hours, you will probably find me in; if you want to see me at another time, or if you want to be certain I'll be in, we can set up an appointment.

Exams. There will be three in-class examinations, worth 20% each. The in-class exams are tentatively scheduled for Monday, February 11; Friday, March 7; and Wednesday, April 9. The final exam, worth 30%, will be on Monday, May 12, at 2:00 PM.

Paper Option. If you wish, you can write an 8-10 page paper for the class. The paper should apply the tools of symbolic logic to an area you are interested in. In most cases, this will involve translating one or more arguments into symbolic notation, determining whether they are valid or not, and discussing the ways in which using the symbolic formulation was helpful and/or unhelpful. More information about the paper is available here. I will replace your lowest in-class exam grade with your grade on the paper (assuming the paper grade is higher than the lowest exam grade). You can turn in the paper at any time during the semester through Friday, April 18. After that it will be too late, so if you want to take advantage of this option, be sure to do it by then!

Homework. I will assign regular homework problems which you will submit for online grading (you should expect to have a homework assignment for nearly every class meeting). It is possible to do these assignments in the campus computer labs, but it will make things much more convenient if you have your own computer and an internet connection. I will record homework grades and keep track of your average (score on each assignment is just number right divided by total questions; average is the average of these scores). Homework will count 10% of the final grade.

In theory you should be able to get a near-perfect score on the homework assignments, because you can check your answers online as many times as you wish prior to submitting the homework. (In practice this rarely happens, however, as many students find some of the homework assignments quite difficult, especially later in the semester.) So doing the homework has the potential both to improve your overall average in the class, and also to improve your understanding of the material and therefore your performance on exams. 

Note that most homework is to be submitted for online grading. When you submit an assignment for the final time, you must indicate that I should receive a copy of the grade report (at my email address, cbrown@trinity.edu). However, if you wish you may submit one or more trial versions of the homework for online grading with grade reports to be sent only to you. Then you may attempt to correct any mistakes prior to the final online submission.  

I will accept only the first grade report I receive for a given assignment, however, so make certain that you have made all the changes you want to or have time for before you have a report sent to me!  When you submit an assignment with a grade report to be sent to me, make certain that you include all of the problems for that assignment in a single submission -- if you break up your submission into chunks, I will count only the first chunk. (However, if you do not complete the assignment, it is still a good idea to submit the problems you did complete with a report to me; a partially completed assignment will do much less damage to your average than a zero.)

I have posted a detailed schedule on the web. Very roughly speaking, we will cover the first 14 chapters of the book at a pace of approximately one chapter per week. (Some chapters will take more time and some, especially the early chapters, will take less.) We will then examine a little of the material in Part III of the book, and some material not covered in the book, as a way of getting a glimpse of more advanced topics in logic, notably extensions of classical logic, suggested revisions of logic, and topics in metalogic.

All students are covered by a policy that prohibits dishonesty in academic work. Students who entered Trinity prior to the fall of 2004 are governed by the Academic Integrity Policy (AIP), while students who entered in the fall of 2004 or later are governed by the Academic Honor Code.

What counts as a violation of academic integrity is the same regardless of which policy you are governed by. The difference lies in the procedures for determining whether a violation has occurred and if so what the penalty will be. Under the Integrity Policy, the faculty member determines whether a violation has occurred as well as the punishment for the violation (if any) within certain guidelines. Under the Code, a faculty member will (or a student may) report an alleged violation to the Academic Honor Council. It is the task of the Council to investigate, adjudicate, and assign a punishment within certain guidelines if a violation has been verified.

Students who are under the Honor Code are required to pledge all written work that is submitted for a grade by writing, on the submitted work: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this work,” followed by their signature. The pledge may be abbreviated “pledged” with a signature. For more details see the Honor Code web site.

Students are required to do their own homework in this class. You are welcome to seek advice from other students if you have trouble with the homework. (You will learn the material better if you have a serious stab at homework problems before seeking help, however.) However, even if you discuss homework problems with other students, you must write and submit your own assignment. In particular, submitting the same file as another student for online grading is a violation of academic integrity. You should be aware that the software we use for doing homework problems "stamps" each homework file with a unique identifier, and alerts me if two students submit files with the same identifier. (So don't share your homework files with other students, and don't submit another student's homework file, or a copy of it, as your own.)

You are also welcome, indeed encouraged, to study for exams in groups and to prepare for exams by trying out the sample exams I have placed online. (Notice that for each exam, I have placed at least one previous version of the exam online. I have also provided answer keys so you can check your answers on the sample exams.) Please do not consult other old exams that may still lurk in fraternity files or elsewhere. There should be plenty of study material available without using those!