PHL245: modern symbolic logic

Instructor: Boaz Faraday Schuman

Email: [email protected]—but note email policy: course questions are to be
asked on Piazza, unless they relate to private matters like accommodations.

Lectures: Logic Labs will be held on Tuesdays (11:00am-1:00pm), the same day the
weekly assignments are due, beginning May 11. There will also be informal
drop-ins with the course instructor on Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00pm.

Lectures will be posted to the course YouTube channel (Logic with Bo—link) and
linked on Quercus and Piazza on Wednesdays. These include regular lectures on
the course material, as well as optional follow-up supplements on topics raised in
class and on Piazza, and optional lectures on further topics in logic. Office hours
can be held by appointment, but only for administrative matters, not course
material. All questions about course material should be asked on Piazza—which
you can do anonymously, if you prefer.

course content and setup

This course is an introduction to deductive arguments in modern symbolic logic. The
emphasis is on rigorous formal methods, though we will be paying close attention to
arguments in ordinary, day-to-day language as well. Part I of the course will introduce
propositional logic (sometimes called zeroth-order logic): students will be introduced to
arguments, formal symbolizations, and deductions. In Part II (following the one-week
June reading break), these skills will be extended to predicate logic (or first-order logic),
with a special emphasis on derivations. Time permitting, we will conclude with a look at
first-order set theory.
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While the course aims to make students proficient in symbolising natural language
sentences and producing derivations, it has application to virtually all other areas of study:
students who complete the coursework can expect to improve their critical thinking in
general. Careful reading of the assigned texts prior to class, attentive class participation,
and above all frequent practice, will pay significant dividends.

what a week in this course looks like

Monday Suggestion: study

Tuesday Item: Logic Lab: 11am-1pm

Item: assignment due (starting May 11) at midnight EST;

next assignment posted online

Suggestion: discuss assignment questions with TAs

Wednesday Item: Zoom drop-in; lectures posted on YouTube

Suggestion: study: watch lectures, work on weekly assignment,

post any questions to Piazza, etc.

Thursday Suggestion: study

Friday & weekend Suggestion: study! But also take time to relax :)

textbook and software

Jon Barwise and John Etchemendy, Language, Proof and Logic (LPL), 2nd edition
(2011).
● Note that you must buy a new copy of the text, to get your unique key-code.
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● Students are encouraged to order the textbook as soon as possible.

● The textbook and software can be purchased online:
https://www.gradegrinder.net/Products/lpl-index.html
● Note that you must buy this new, to obtain your unique access code.

LPL is a textbook and desktop software package (supported by both Windows and Mac),
which has five components. Here is a brief summary of them:

1. The textbook itself, which forms the basis of the course;

2. Boole, a program that guides you through the creation and filling-out of truth
tables;
3. Fitch, a program that guides you through the creation and completion of formal
derivations;
4. Tarski, which allows you to interpret and model sentences, both in English and in
symbolic logic; and lastly
5. Submit, which (as its name suggests) is the program you use to submit your
completed work in Boole, Fitch, and Tarski.

The uses of these programs will be discussed in lectures and tutorials.

grading policy
The grade for this course will be determined by weekly homework assignments, and an
online midterm and final exam. Here is how these make up the final grade:

Weekly assignments (10 total @ 6% ea) 60%

Midterm exam 20%

Final exam 20%

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Assignments will begin the second week of class (due Tuesday, May 11), though the first
assignment will just be registering the course software through Submit and answering a
simple question on Piazza. Assignments will be posted on Quercus on Tuesday evenings,
and will be due the following Tuesday by midnight through Submit. Late assignments
will be docked 20% per day. Marking is automated, so you will be emailed your results
more or less immediately. Students are encouraged to bring questions about the
assignments to tutorials.

Note: If you look at the schedule below, you’ll see there are actually eleven
assignments listed. That’s because I’m going to drop your lowest assignment mark
for the final grade. Even so, it is vital to complete all the assignments, since
familiarity with earlier course material is indispensable to understand the later stuff
in the course. If you skip the assignment covering the Boolean connectives, for
example, you’ll have a lot of catching up to do when it comes time to study their
logic.

The Midterm exam will be posted online at the beginning of the June study break (which
begins June 15), and must be completed by June 24. The exam will take 60 to 90
minutes to complete. Solutions will be posted on Friday, June 25.

The Final exam will be online, during the examination period (between August 18-20;
dates and times TBD by the Office of the Registrar). This exam will likewise take between
60 and 90 minutes to complete.

This course also features a Piazza page (link on Quercus). Piazza is a space where you
can ask questions and solicit help on the coursework, assignments, and so forth, both from
me, and from your classmates. The course TAs and I will monitor Piazza every weekday
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for the duration of the course. When you post a question about a problem, please don’t
just refer to its number in the textbook: post an actual image or paste of the problem itself.
Students should ask questions on Piazza first, not use email.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your assignments have been uploaded to Submit.
Once you believe your file to be submitted, double check that it actually has been.
It is also your responsibility to ensure that you have uploaded the correct files. Please
double-check that you have uploaded the file you intended to upload.

Please also make a habit of backing your work up. Computers crash and hard drives die,
but ensuring that this does not result in lost work is pretty easy.1

weekly schedule
Ordered pairs (e.g. ‹01, 01›) correspond to lecture videos on the course YouTube. On
average, each of these is about four minutes long.

Week Week of... Assessments + Material

1 May 3 Assignment (A): none

(monday) Material (M): Introduction to the course (wednesday): ‹01, 01›

2 May 10 A: Assignment 1 due (tuesday)

(monday)
Logic Labs (tuesday)

M: Language, Proof and Logic (LPL) 1.1-1.4: atomic

sentences: ‹02, 01›, ‹02, 02›, ‹02, 03›, ‹02, 04› (wednesday)

3 May 17 A: Assignment 2 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 2.1-2.5: the logic of atomic sentence:s ‹03, 01›, ‹03,
02›, ‹03, 03›, ‹03, 04›, ‹03, 05› (wednesday)

1
Here is a list of syncing/backup software that freely provide more than enough space to keep your
academic work backed up and/or synced between different computers: dropbox, onedrive, google drive,
tresorit, sync.com, idrive, and mega.nz.
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LPL 3.1-3: the Boolean connectives: ‹04, 01›, ‹04, 02›, ‹04,
03›, ‹04, 04›, ‹04, 05›, ‹04, 06› (wednesday)

Zoom drop-ins begin (wednesday)

4 May 24 A: Assignment 3 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 4.1-4.5: the logic of Boolean connectives: ‹05, 01›,
‹05, 02›, ‹05, 03›, ‹05, 04› (wednesday)

5 May 31 A: Assignment 4 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 5.1-5.4: methods of proofs for Boolean logic: ‹06, 01›,
‹06, 02›, ‹06, 03›, ‹06, 04› (wednesday)

6 June 7 A: Assignment 5 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 6.1-6.6: formal proofs and Boolean logic, review for
final exam: ‹08, 01›, ‹08, 02›, ‹08, 03›, ‹08, 04›, ‹08, 04›, ‹08,
05, ‹08, 06›2 (wednesday)

7 June 14 STUDY BREAK BEGINS (tuesday)

(monday)
A: A6 due (monday);3 midterm exam posted online

8 June 21 STUDY BREAK

(monday)
A: midterm exam deadline (thursday)

9 June 28 STUDY BREAK

(monday)

10 July 5 CLASSES RECOMMENCE

(monday)
Assignment: None

M: LPL 7.1-7.4: conditionals: ‹09, 01›, ‹09, 02›, ‹09, 03›, ‹09,
04›
LPL 8.1-8.3: the logic of conditionals: ‹10, 01›, ‹10, 02›, ‹10, 03›
(wednesday)

2
Where did the 7s go? They’re just optional videos about conjunctive and disjunctive normal form, which
you can watch if you feel like it. Or not, if you don’t.
3
I’ve shifted the due date back one day for just this assignment, so as to not make it due the first day of
reading week. If you want a one-day extension on this one, just email me.
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11 July 12 A: Assignment 7 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 9.1-9.6: introduction to quantification: ‹11, 01›, ‹11, 02›,
‹11, 03›, ‹11, 04›, ‹11, 05›, ‹11, 06› (wednesday)

12 July 19 A: Assignment 8 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 10.1-10.3; 10.6: the logic of quantifiers: ‹12, 01›, ‹12,
02›, ‹12, 03›, ‹12, 04›, ‹12, 05›, ‹12, 06› (wednesday)

13 July 26 A: Assignment 9 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 11.1-11.5: multiple quantifiers: ‹13, 01›, ‹13, 02›, ‹13,
03›, ‹13, 04›, ‹13, 05› (wednesday)

14 August 2 A: Assignment 10 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 12.1-12.4: methods of proof for quantifiers: ‹14, 01›,
‹14, 02›, ‹14, 03›, ‹14, 04›, ‹14, 05›, ‹14, 06› (wednesday)

15 August 9 A: Assignment 11 due (tuesday)

(monday)
M: LPL 13.1-13.3: formal proofs and quantifiers; review for
final exam: ‹15, 01›, ‹15, 02›, ‹15, 03› (wednesday)

16 August 16 Material: NO LECTURES OR TUTORIALS

(monday)
Assessment: Final exam (date TBD)

how to do well in this course

Practice! A good deal of the coursework involves translating sentences from English into
symbolic logic, and vice-versa. Furthermore, producing derivations can be made much
easier by establishing a sound basis in the reading of symbolic sentences, and by
developing techniques and strategies for arriving at the solution. All this requires
considerable practice. Accordingly, it is a good idea to treat PHL245 like a language
course, which requires constant practice and repetition in order to establish proficiency
and confidence. If you want any further practice problems in addition to the assignments,
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feel free to do other problems in LPL and email me your solutions. I would be happy to
look them over for you, and give advice where it’s needed :)

academic policies
This course will abide by the U of T’s policies on academic integrity, special
considerations, and accessibility accommodations.

Academic integrity: Students are responsible for familiarising themselves with and
abiding by the University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, which is
available online: https://www.academicintegrity.utoronto.ca/

Special consideration: Students who, for legitimate and verifiable reasons, have to miss
coursework, or hand it in late, may email me at [email protected].
Legitimate reasons include religious observances, as well as health matters. Requests for
special consideration that are not filed promptly (i.e. no more than a day after the
assessment is due) will be denied. All requests must be filed before the course is over.

Accessibility accommodations: If you need any accommodations, please do not hesitate to

contact me, so that we can find a solution for you. For details on accessibility at the U of
T, please consult the Accessibility Services webpage:
https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/accessibility/welcome-accessibility-services

Equity, diversity, and excellence: This course and conduct within it will at all times
promote the University of Toronto’s stated aim to promote equity and diversity, in the
name of pursuing excellence. You can read this statement here:
https://governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/secretariat/policies/equity-diversity-and-excellence-s
tatement-december-14-2006