Logical Methods

An accessible introduction to philosophical logic, suitable for undergraduate courses and above.

Rigorous yet accessible, Logical Methods introduces logical tools used in philosophy—including proofs, models, modal logics, meta-theory, two-dimensional logics, and quantification—for philosophy students at the undergraduate level and above. The approach developed by Greg Restall and Shawn Standefer is distinct from other texts because it presents proof construction on equal footing with model building and emphasizes connections to other areas of philosophy as the tools are developed.
 
Throughout, the material draws on a broad range of examples to show readers how to develop and master tools of proofs and models for propositional, modal, and predicate logic; to construct and analyze arguments and to find their structure; to build counterexamples; to understand the broad sweep of formal logic’s development in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; and to grasp key concepts used again and again in philosophy.
 
This text is essential to philosophy curricula, regardless of specialization, and will also find wide use in mathematics and computer science programs.
 
Features:

An accessible introduction to proof theory for readers with no background in logic

Covers proofs, models, modal logics, meta-theory, two-dimensional logics, quantification, and many other topics

Provides tools and techniques of particular interest to philosophers and philosophical logicians

Features short summaries of key concepts and skills at the end of each chapter

Offers chapter-by-chapter exercises in two categories: basic, designed to reinforce important ideas; and challenge, designed to push students’ understanding and developing skills in new directions

Greg Restall is Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of Logic: An Introduction and coauthor of Logical Pluralism. Shawn Standefer is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at National Taiwan University.