Course Information

Language and Formal Reasoning

Class Description

Analysis of the structural relationships between natural language and formal logic/artificial language through examination of English syntax, first-order logic, and what is necessary to translate between the two.

The goal of this course is to lead you to think analytically about syntax, meaning, and reasoning in terms abstract enough to encompass both natural languages (like English) and artificial formal languages (in this case, first-order logic) ? to see underlying structural similarities and to understand some fundamental differences as well. This goal is accomplished by (i) introducing you to two kinds of formal systems, first-order logic and formal phrase-structure grammars, (ii) using these systems to analyze syntax and reasoning, in symbolic form and in English, and (iii) examining differences between artificial and natural language in principles of cooperative communication.