An Introduction to Classical and Modal Logics
The Outlines of Knowledge

A lively and accessible, yet practical and rigorous guide to learning and teaching classical and modal logics.

Adam Bjorndahl (Author)

9781009450676, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 November 2024

260 pages
24.3 x 16.9 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

'Bjorndahl has produced a fantastic text that artfully tows the challenging line between covering core material from the canons of formal logic – soundness and completeness, expressivity, etc. – and inviting the reader to explore the most recent trends and advances in the subject's applications to epistemology and the analysis of knowledge. Especially innovative are the helpful side comments throughout the text: additional points and reminders one is often looking for when learning new material. Also distinctive is the gentle introduction to topology at the end, elegantly and easily following the author's presentation of logic. I would recommend this text to any beginner wanting to accelerate from the basics to key elements of the cutting edge.' Thomas Icard, Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University

Classical logic – which studies the structural features of purported claims of fact – and modal logic – which studies relations of necessity and possibility – are different but complementary areas of logical thought. In this lively and accessible textbook, Adam Bjorndahl provides a comprehensive and unified introduction to the two subjects, treating them with the same level of rigour and detail and showing how they fit together. The core material appears in the main text, with hundreds of supplemental examples, comments, clarifications, and connections presented throughout in easy-to-read sidenotes, giving the book a distinct conversational feel. A detailed, multi-part appendix covers important background mathematical material that some students may lack, such as induction or the concept of countable infinity. A fully self-contained learning resource, this book will be ideal for a semester-long upper-level university course on either or both of the topics.

Introduction: what is logic?
1. Classical propositional logic
2. Classical predicate logic
3. Modal logic
4. Group knowledge
5. Topological semantics
A Mathematical tools & techniques
B Selected solutions.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: logic [HPL]