PHIL 012 1/19 Survey Results, the Study of Logic, and Set Theory

Today’s class Questions/Problems Survey Results The Context of Logic Set Theory Continued

Additional Suggestions for Students (1 response) Make sure I understand Give myself a lot of time Take notes Come to class prepared Create & solve original logic problems Pay attention Hang out in tarski's world

Additional Suggestions for Instructors Comment homework Be willing to help Less detail Be gentle students provide study guides go slowly allow correction of homework errors put notes in a text file Give non-homework examples explain how exams work paper & pencil problem sets more advance notice of assignments tell where we are heading foreshadow next lecture make sure students understand tell how material applies to philosophy give good notes practice problems in class before assigned solutions on web don't repeat basic stuff

Additional Comments “Students should take responsibility for learning.” “I feel like I’m learning from the book and the class is review.” “The book makes simple things seem complicated.” “The class seems pretty fun.”

What is Logic? Logic (allegedly) studies the rational basis of thought and valid reasoning. Formal logic studies the forms of valid inference. It is not necessarily a descriptive account of how people think (psychology/cognitive science). Like the Foundations of Mathematics, it doesn’t necessarily have any real-world applications.

Q: Why does logic make simple things seem complicated? Consider the expression: “There are a lot of smart people in this room.” This expression is simple, but imprecise. Define: “a lot” and “smart” To be precise, we would have to define “smart” operationally as well as make an awful lot of complex statements about human psychology.

What is logic? The difficulties of definition… Logicians disagree. An answer presupposes a sophisticated knowledge of the history of philosophy and mathematics. “Where are we going?”: Consider the problem of explaining calculus.

Next Class: Function Symbols and Arithmetic For Monday, read 2.5 and 2.6 Because 1) you should read ahead to understand the lectures and 2) reading is reinforced by actual practice… Do Problems 9, 11, 12, and 13 if you haven’t already Submit these problems by midnight Monday.