Admission requirements
None.
Description
This course provides an introduction to logic and its relation to language. You will learn to read and write logical formulae and proofs (propositional logic, predicate logic, modal logic), and gain an understanding of the ways in which logic relates to natural language and cognition, in areas such as formal semantics, pragmatics (fallacies, implicature), psycholinguistics (for instance, theory-of-mind experiments), and computational linguistics.
NB. Last year this course was called ‘Semantics 1’; its follow-up in the second semester, which used to be called ‘Semantics 2’, is now called Advanced Semantics.
Course objectives
You will be able to read and write logical formulae, and to understand and compose simple logical proofs, in propositional, predicate and modal logic.
You will be able to explain commonalities of, and differences between, logic and natural language, both from a historical and current methodological perspective.
You will be able to identify and formally characterize logical fallacies, both in your own reasoning and ‘in the wild’.
You will be able to summarize, at a conceptual level and basic formal level, research papers from the primary literature on the intersection of logic and language.
You will be able to formulate meaningful and feasible research questions on the intersection of logic and language.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
There will be one, final written exam with a mix of closed questions, short open questions and essay questions.
Weighing
The written exam comprises 100% of the grade.
Resit
A resit will be offered for the written exam, replacing the original grade entirely.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
L.T.F. Gamut. Logic, Language, and Meaning, Volume 1: Introduction to Logic (first, and only, edition, 1990)
Module 2.3 from the Portal Academic Skills on Argumentation.
Additional materials and research papers will be provided during the course.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Reuvensplaats
Remarks
None.