Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Course Overview

Modal logic is the logic of necessity and possibility, and by extension of analogously paired notions like validity and consistency, obligation and permission, the known and the not-ruled-out. This a first course in the area. A solid background in first-order logic is essential. Topics to be covered include (some or all of) the main systems of propositional modal logic, Kripkean "possible world" semantics, strict implication, contingent identity, intensional objects, counterpart theory, the logic of actuality, and deontic and / or epistemic logic. The emphasis will be more on technical methods and results than philosophical applications.

Prerequisites

24.241 Logic I

Grading

ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Homework 40%
Modal Logic Paper 20%
Final Exam 30%
Participation, etc. 10%

Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DATES
1 Basic Propositional Notions  
2–3 Basic Modal Notions  
4–5 System K Homework 1 due Session 4
6–7 Extensions of K Homework 2 due Session 6
8–9 Testing for Validity Homework 3 due Session 8
10–11 Modal Metalogic Homework 4 due Session 10
12–13 Glimpses Beyond  
14–15 Modal Predicate Logic  
16–17 Modal Predicate Metalogic Homework 5 due Session 16
18–19 Shifting Domains Homework 6 due Session 19
20–21 Existence and Identity Homework 7 due Session 21
22–23 Descriptions and Rigidity Modal Logic Paper & Homework 8 due Session 23
24–25 Intensional Objects  
26–27 Special Topics Take Home Final due two days after Session 27