A Proof Theoretical Study On Logics With Constructible Falsity

An innovative approach to the semantics of logic, proof-theoretic semantics seeks the meaning of propositions and logical connectives within a system of inference. Gerhard Gentzen invented proof-theoretic semantics in the early 1930s, and Dag Prawitz, the author of this study, extended its analytic proofs to systems of natural deduction. Prawitz's theories form the basis of intuitionistic type theory, and his inversion principle constitutes the foundation of most modern accounts of proof-theoretic semantics. The concept of natural deduction follows a truly natural progression, establishing the relationship between a noteworthy systematization and the interpretation of logical signs. As this survey explains, the deduction's principles allow it to proceed in a direct fashion — a manner that permits every natural deduction's transformation into the equivalent of normal form theorem. A basic result in proof theory, the normal form theorem was established by Gentzen for the calculi of sequents. The proof of this result for systems of natural deduction is in many ways simpler and more illuminating than alternative methods. This study offers clear illustrations of the proof and numerous examples of its advantages.

Interest in computer applications has led to a new attitude to applied logic in which researchers tailor a logic in the same way they define a computer language. In response to this attitude, this text for undergraduate and graduate students discusses major algorithmic methodologies, and tableaux and resolution methods. The authors focus on first-order logic, the use of proof theory, and the computer application of automated searches for proofs of mathematical propositions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Inconsistency arises in many areas in advanced computing. Often inconsistency is unwanted, for example in the specification for a plan or in sensor fusion in robotics; however, sometimes inconsistency is useful. Whether inconsistency is unwanted or useful, there is a need to develop tolerance to inconsistency in application technologies such as databases, knowledge bases, and software systems. To address this situation, inconsistency tolerance is being built on foundational technologies for identifying and analyzing inconsistency in information, for representing and reasoning with inconsistent information, for resolving inconsistent information, and for merging inconsistent information. The idea for this book arose out of a Dagstuhl Seminar on the topic held in summer 2003. The nine chapters in this first book devoted to the subject of inconsistency tolerance were carefully invited and anonymously reviewed. The book provides an exciting introduction to this new field.

This volume is dedicated to Prof. Dag Prawitz and his outstanding contributions to philosophical and mathematical logic. Prawitz's eminent contributions to structural proof theory, or general proof theory, as he calls it, and inference-based meaning theories have been extremely influential in the development of modern proof theory and anti-realistic semantics. In particular, Prawitz is the main author on natural deduction in addition to Gerhard Gentzen, who defined natural deduction in his PhD thesis published in 1934. The book opens with an introductory paper that surveys Prawitz's numerous contributions to proof theory and proof-theoretic semantics and puts his work into a somewhat broader perspective, both historically and systematically. Chapters include either in-depth studies of certain aspects of Dag Prawitz's work or address open research problems that are concerned with core issues in structural proof theory and range from philosophical essays to papers of a mathematical nature. Investigations into the necessity of thought and the theory of grounds and computational justifications as well as an examination of Prawitz's conception of the validity of inferences in the light of three “dogmas of proof-theoretic semantics” are included. More formal papers deal with the constructive behaviour of fragments of classical logic and fragments of the modal logic S4 among other topics. In addition, there are chapters about inversion principles, normalization of p roofs, and the notion of proof-theoretic harmony and other areas of a more mathematical persuasion. Dag Prawitz also writes a chapter in which he explains his current views on the epistemic dimension of proofs and addresses the question why some inferences succeed in conferring evidence on their conclusions when applied to premises for which one already possesses evidence.

A concise introduction to structural proof theory, a branch of logic studying the general structure of logical and mathematical proofs.

An Introduction to Proof Theory provides an accessible introduction to the theory of proofs, with details of proofs worked out and examples and exercises to aid the reader's understanding. It also serves as a companion to reading the original pathbreaking articles by Gerhard Gentzen. The first half covers topics in structural proof theory, including the Gödel-Gentzen translation of classical into intuitionistic logic (and arithmetic), natural deduction and the normalization theorems (for both NJ and NK), the sequent calculus, including cut-elimination and mid-sequent theorems, and various applications of these results. The second half examines ordinal proof theory, specifically Gentzen's consistency proof for first-order Peano Arithmetic. The theory of ordinal notations and other elements of ordinal theory are developed from scratch, and no knowledge of set theory is presumed. The proof methods needed to establish proof-theoretic results, especially proof by induction, are introduced in stages throughout the text. Mancosu, Galvan, and Zach's introduction will provide a solid foundation for those looking to understand this central area of mathematical logic and the philosophy of mathematics.

In the area of mathematical logic, a great deal of attention is now being devoted to the study of nonclassical logics. This book intends to present the most important methods of proof theory in intuitionistic logic and to acquaint the reader with the principal axiomatic theories based on intuitionistic logic.

This introduction to the basic ideas of structural proof theory contains a thorough discussion and comparison of various types of formalization of first-order logic. Examples are given of several areas of application, namely: the metamathematics of pure first-order logic (intuitionistic as well as classical); the theory of logic programming; category theory; modal logic; linear logic; first-order arithmetic and second-order logic. In each case the aim is to illustrate the methods in relatively simple situations and then apply them elsewhere in much more complex settings. There are numerous exercises throughout the text. In general, the only prerequisite is a standard course in first-order logic, making the book ideal for graduate students and beginning researchers in mathematical logic, theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. For the new edition, many sections have been rewritten to improve clarity, new sections have been added on cut elimination, and solutions to selected exercises have been included.

Description Logics (DLs) is a family of formalisms used to represent knowledge of a domain. They are equipped with a formal logic-based semantics. Knowledge representation systems based on description logics provide various inference capabilities that deduce implicit knowledge from the explicitly represented knowledge. A Proof Theory for Description Logics introduces Sequent Calculi and Natural Deduction for some DLs (ALC, ALCQ). Cut-elimination and Normalization are proved for the calculi. The author argues that such systems can improve the extraction of computational content from DLs proofs for explanation purposes.