Description

forall x is an introduction to sentential logic and first-order predicate logic with identity/ logical systems that significantly influenced twentieth-century analytic philosophy. After working through the material in this book/ a student should be able to understand most quantified expressions that arise in their philosophical reading. This books treats symbolization/ formal semantics/ and proof theory for each language. The discussion of formal semantics is more direct than in many introductory texts. Although forall x does not contain proofs of soundness and completeness/ it lays the groundwork for understanding why these are things that need to be proven. Throughout the book/ I have tried to highlight the choices involved in developing sentential and predicate logic. Students should realize that these two are not the only possible formal languages. In translating to a formal language/ we simplify and profit in clarity. The simplification comes at a cost/ and different formal languages are suited to translating different parts of natural language. The book is designed to provide a semester's worth of material for an introductory college course. It would be possible to use the book only for sentential logic/ by skipping chapters 4-5 and parts of chapter 6.