Gregory Wheeler
Department of Computer Science
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
grw@fct.unl.pt

 

course description:

The goal of the course is for you to feel comfortable picking up any intermediate book on modal logic and to understand the fundamentals behind applications that rely upon modal logic concepts or (basic) techniques.

After a thorough grounding in propositional normal modal logic including soundness, completeness, basic decidability results and the relationship between normal modal logic and first-order logic, various interpretations and extensions are considered. We cover logics for time and belief, and consider first-order modal logic and the broader class of classical modal logics. We end with a survey from a selection of topics, which in the past has included hybrid modal logics, probability modal logics, multi-agent modal logics, modal algebras, and logical modalities.

method:

There are three types of study materials for this course: (i) in-class handouts, (ii) lecture notes, and (iii) textbooks. In-class handouts are (usually) one page, and list key points of that day’s lecture and an example for you to work through. The lecture notes, which are in the form of slides, give the structure of the course: definitions and main results will be found here. Finally, for background reading and additional examples, chapters from textbooks and recent papers may be assigned.

course materials:

  • Brian Chellas, 1980. Modal Logic, Cambridge University Press.
  • Patrick Blackburn, Maarten de Rijke, and Yde Venema (2001). Modal Logic, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press.
  • G. E. Hughes and M. J. Cresswell, (1996). A New Introduction to Modal Logic, Routledge Press.
  • Melvin Fitting and Richard Mendelsohn, (2001). First-order Modal Logic, Synthese Library.
  • Horacio Arlo-Costa and Eric Pacuit, ``First-order classical modal logic'', to appear Studia Logica.
Lecture notes and course schedule will be distributed by e-mail.

assessment

Grades are determined by

  • 4 or 5 analytical exercises (50% +/- 3%) and
  • a final exam (50% +/- 3%).

No late assignments are accepted.