Introduction to Logic

Philosophy 210

Spring 2012, MoWeFr 11:30–12:25

Room: LC 4

http://www.fecundity.com/courses

Professor: P.D. Magnus

E-mail: pmagnus<at>albany.edu

Office phone: (518) 945-8252

Office: HU-258B

Office hours: M 12:30–1:30, Tu 11:00–noon, and by appointment

TA: Jie Yin

E-mail: jyin<at>albany.edu

Campus phone: x2-4257

Office: HU-255

Office hours: We 1:40–2:40, Th 1:00–2:00, and by appointment

Materials

The textbook for this course, forall x, is available on-line at http://hdl.handle.net/1951/52561

It is written to be a physical book, and you should print a copy. It has problems at the ends of the chapters, some solutions in an appendix, and reference tables in the back.

I have not made it available in the bookstore, because they would have charged you $27.15 plus tax. It will be cheaper for you to print it yourself even at 15¢ per page.

We will be using the iClicker system for in-class quiz-taking and polling. You will need to have and register an iClicker to get credit for quizzes and polls. You can purchase an iClicker remote from the campus bookstore.

Requirements

There will be three midterm exams and a final exam.

Each component of the course will figure in your final grade:

15% clicker quizzes/participation

20% first midterm

20% second midterm

20% third midterm

25% final exam

You are responsible for getting the iClicker, registering it, bringing it to class each day, and using it. Not having it with you means not getting credit for that day.

More information is available at the ITS Help Desk in LC 27 and at http://iclicker.com

If students can find a substantive error in the textbook, then they are encouraged to point it out to the professor. The first student to report any particular error will receive a bonus equal to 1 point on a midterm exam.

Policies

No make-up exams or quizzes will be permitted without a documented medical excuse. Students who miss an exam with a legitimate excuse should e-mail me as soon as possible.

Cheating will not be tolerated. Copying answers from another student during an exam, consulting notes on an exam, or using an absent student’s iClicker to signal answers are all strictly forbidden. If you are caught doing any of these, you will get a failing grade for the course.

Logic sits on the cusp of humanistic and formal disciplines. As such, this course may be used to fulfill the general education requirement for Humanities or for Mathematics. For more about General Education courses, see http://www.albany.edu/undergraduate_bulletin/general_education.html

Schedule

The schedule of topics is an approximation, but the dates of quizzes and exams will not change.

We jan18
Introduction (ch 1)
Fr jan20
first day with clickers
Mo jan23
Sentential logic (2.1–2.2)
We jan25
continued (2.3–2.4)
Fr jan27
continued
Mo jan30
continued
We feb1
Truth tables (ch 3)
Fr feb2
continued
Mo feb6
review
We feb8
FIRST EXAM
Fr feb10
Quantified logic (4.1)
Mo feb13
QL (4.2)
We feb15
QL (4.3)
Fr feb17
continued
Mo feb27
QL (4.4)
We feb29
QL (4.5)
Fr mar2
continued
Mo mar5
QL (4.6)
We mar7
review
Fr mar9
SECOND EXAM
mar 12,14,16
BREAK
Mo mar19
Formal semantics (5.1)
We mar21
Models (5.2)
Fr mar23
more models (5.3–5.4)
Mo mar26
continued
We mar28
more models (5.5)
Fr mar30
continued
Mo apr2
review
We apr4
THIRD EXAM
Fr apr6
NO CLASS
Mo apr9
NO CLASS
We apr11
Proofs (6.1)
Fr apr13
continued
Mo apr16
Derived rules (6.2)
We apr18
continued
Fr apr20
Proof strategy (6.6–6.7)
Mo apr23
Proofs in QL (6.4)
We apr25
′′
Fr apr27
′′
Mo apr30
′′
We may2
′′
Fr may4
Proofs meet semantics (6.8–6.9)
Mo may7
review
Mo may14, 3:30–5:30
Final exam