Reasoning About Truth: A 4-Week Course on Logic by Dr Christian Colombo

Reasoning About Truth: A 4-Week Course on Logic by Dr Christian Colombo

From daily arguments to artificial intelligence, from software programming to philosophical reasoning - knowingly or not - we use logical reasoning. In this exciting course you will learn: How to capture basic truths and combine them together to construct logical statements. How to consider all possible truth outcomes of a statement based on its components. How to use generic logical rules to reason about anything you like!

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Propositional Logic

An informal introduction to the subject with examples of arguments. Towards the end of the lesson we start formalising the ideas using truth tables.

Lesson 2 - Reasoning with Truth Tables 

Continuing where we left off, we combine truth tables to reason about more complex situations. Towards the end of the lesson we hint at the power of proofs.

Lesson 3 - First Rules of Deductive Proofs

Starting with basic rules of inference, we introduce the idea of a deductive proof. We also highlight how in everyday argumentation, we reach incorrect conclusions due to use of incorrect rules.

Lesson 4 - Further Rules of Inference 

Building on the previous lesson, we introduce further rules of inference. We conclude with a discussion of the merits and limitations of deductive proofs.