Spring 2022, MW 9:05-10:20 am in Caldwell 213, 3 credits
UNC students enrolled in the course (or otherwise authorized by the instructor) can access the Sakai webpages for this course at https://sakai.unc.edu/portal/site/phil455-s22.
Those pages include the Zoom links for the course meetings and for Professor Pryor’s office hours. These can also be retrieved from this restricted page.
Most of the information for the course will be published here, outside of the Sakai system, and can also be viewed by people not enrolled in the course.
This front web page won’t be updated frequently. Regular announcements, readings, and presentation notes will be posted at this page instead.
I am obligated to copy this general information onto every syllabus. See below for a description of how this specific instance of the course will be run.
PHIL 455. Symbolic Logic. 3 Credits. Introduction for graduates and advanced undergraduates. Requisites: Prerequisite, PHIL 155; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: QR. Repeat rules: May be repeated for credit. 6 total credits. 2 total completions. Grading status: Letter grade. Same as: LING 455.
This course aims to equip advanced philosophy students with solid foundations to deal with logic in papers they read and write, and discussions they participate in. We will discuss some important metalogical results, but will tend more towards equipping you with a broad understanding of the field than towards refining your proof skills. We’ll discuss a smorgasbord of issues in logic and metalogic, and some in math and formal semantics.
The course will be divided into three roughly equal segments:
This course is required for Philosophy Graduate Students.
Other students require permission from the instructor to enroll in the course.
Prerequisites: a solid grasp of elementary first-order logic (as covered for example in PHIL 155).
This course is aimed at grads and undergrads in Philosophy, Linguistics, and related fields like Math and Computer Science.
As stated in the catalog listing, it’s expected that you have taken Phil 155 or its equivalent. Understanding that material well will be essential for being able to keep up with this course.
Goals for the course include:
Gaining familiarity with formal and conceptual tools in logic, and philosophical problems relevant to them.
Improving your ability to read and understand work that exposits or makes use of advanced logic. This includes work discussing major metalogical results and issues, as well as work making use of modal logic and some formal semantics.
The course is offered by Professor Jim Pryor (he/him).
Professor Pryor’s office is Caldwell 108A. He can best be reached by email, at jimpryor@unc.edu.
Professor Pryor’s office hours are on Mondays starting at 3 pm, and Wednesdays starting at 1 pm. (If you have a quick question, you can also ask just after class.) If you’re unable to meet in person, we can also arrange to meet by Zoom. The Zoom link for office hours can be found on this restricted page.
Feel free to drop into office hours to discuss anything you like about our course. I’m happy to talk about your homeworks, continue discussion, and so on. If you do come to my office and I’m already speaking with someone, make sure that we know that you’re waiting for us to finish.
All readings for the course will be provided by web links. Some of these are in a restricted section of the course website. The username and password for these were emailed to you, and will also be announced in class.
It is essential that you attend the class meetings regularly. Material not in the readings will often be presented there, and useful background and framing for some of the readings will also be provided. The University’s Policy on Class Attendance can be found here. In brief, they authorize absences only for some University activities, religious observances, disabilities, significant health conditions including pregnancy, and personal or family emergencies. If these include your situation, then consult the link about how to get your absence approved. (The University Approved Absence Office (UAAO) also has useful information.) If you need to miss class meetings for other kinds of reasons (like a job interview or to attend your mother’s wedding), ask me about it well in advance. In any case, you will be responsible for catching up with missed course content; and permission to miss a class doesn’t excuse you from deadlines for work due before or after the class.
Though this is an in-person course, attending a class meeting doesn’t necessarily mean being bodily present in the room. As the carolinatogether website says:
Each time prior to coming to campus, all members of the Carolina community should self-assess whether you are experiencing any symptoms.
If you have symptoms, you should stay home. You should not enter any campus building, attend any class or report to work.
Information about Covid testing is available here.
Information about quarantining and isolation is available here.
If you need to stay home during any of our class meetings, try to attend the meeting by Zoom instead.
See the Policies section below about wearing masks and using laptops or other devices in class.
When you join the class meetings, you are expected to have read any material assigned for that day, and to be ready to discuss it and/or ask questions about it.
It is essential that you ask questions when things in the readings or my presentations are unclear, and be ready to participate when I invite class discussion. I encourage you also to actively engage with each other outside the classroom, for example in study groups or to work together on homeworks.
There will be reading assignments for some class meetings, and I’ll often post summaries of material I presented in class. You should read these materials carefully as soon as they’re available, and expect that you’ll have to read many of them more than once.
There will be weekly homeworks due throughout the semester. These must be turned in (in-person or by email) before the start of most Wednesday class meetings. (No homeworks are due on Jan 12, Mar 23, Apr 13, or Apr 27.) There will also be a final homework due on Thursday May 5 at 8 am, which is the time scheduled for our final exam. Instead of the exam, we will meet at that time to review the final homewok and discuss outstanding philosophical issues that emerged during the semester.
Some of the homework exercises will ask you to define a specified function or predicate (as you might do in a computer programming course). Many will ask you to argue for some conclusion, in a mathematically rigorous way but not in a formal proof system. (Only occasionally will you be asked to prove things in a formal system like first-order logic or extensions of it; instead most of this course will involve reasoning about formal systems.) Some homework exercises will ask you to explain why some mathematical fact does/doesn’t obtain (as an educator or philosopher might, to a student who is stuck or confused). Taken together, the homeworks will constitute (substantially more than) the intellectual equivalent of ten pages of writing.
Homeworks cannot be turned in late, as I’ll be posting sample solutions after you submit them. Your grade for the course will be based on the quality of your homeworks. The weakest two homeworks you submit (or fail to submit) will be ignored. (The final homework cannot be omitted.)
The University Honor Code applies to all course assignments, and petitions for absences or rescheduling. In brief, this means students are expected to refrain from “lying, cheating, or stealing” in the academic context. For more information or to clarify which actions violate the honor code, consult with me, honor.unc.edu, and/or The Instrument of Student Judicial Governance.
What constitutes “lying, cheating, or stealing” depends on the academic activity.
Grade Appeals: If you feel you have been given an incorrect grade for the course, we can review together how I evaluated your work. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, you have the right to discuss with our department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies (currently Professor Markus Kohl), or to appeal through a formal University process. You’ll be expected to make a case that the grade reflects an arithmetic/clerical error, arbitrariness, discrimination, harassment, or personal malice. To learn more, consult the Academic Advising Program website, or this summary of University policies.
Most requests that I and other professors hear for changing grades are based on how good/bad it would be for a student to get a given grade; but it would be unfair and inappropriate for justifications like that to succeed.
This schedule lists the rough order of our topics. See this other page for course announcements, specific readings, presentation notes, and any minor tweaks to the schedule. Check that page frequently.
(Whether or not you’re on the waitlist, the procedure is the same.) Come to the first week of classes and be in touch with me asap about your interest in the course, how it fits into your larger educational plans, and what your background in logic and other philosophy and/or formal courses might be. I’ll accommodate you if it seems that you’ll be adequately prepared for this course; but you should also figure out a backup plan.
As stated above, homeworks cannot be turned in late, as I’ll be posting sample solutions after you submit them.
The Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS) has staff who work with students who are dealing with medical and/or personal issues that are interfering with their courses. If you contact ODOS, they will be able to work with you to verify the cause of the disruption, connect you with campus services that may help, and notify me and other professors about the issue. They sometimes make recommendations about what would be reasonable accommodations for your situation, which I will take seriously. If you’re going to fall behind in the homeworks or reading or class meetings, then get in touch with them as soon as possible to tell them about your situation. I’ll expect any last-minute or after-the-fact requests for academic accommodations to come through the ODOS.
The first few of these are specific to our course; the rest are information that the University mandates I include on every syllabus. (So you will see a lot of overlap with your syllabi for other courses.)
I won’t prohibit the use of laptops or tablets for taking notes, though I strongly discourage this. I’ll post summaries of the main outlines of my presentations, so you won’t need to write everything down during our meetings. You should be reviewing those presentation notes outside of class anyway. An effective use of your time in the classroom is to focus on following my presentations and any class discussion, and actively raising questions when you don’t. If you must have a device open in class, don’t browse the web, or read/send texts or other social media during our meetings. It’s pretty clear to everyone when you are doing this, and it’s rude and distracting to me and your classmates.
You may not record our class meetings in any format without prior express authorization from me and the department. To request the use of assistive technology as an accommodation, contact the ARS (see below). For others, permission to record will only be granted in extraordinary circumstances. Students are never permitted to copy or distribute recordings of the class, and must delete any they possess when the course concludes.
Spring 2022 Course Delivery: As long as it is possible to do so safely, we will be meeting in person this semester. I understand the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may require changes to this plan and I’ll be monitoring the situation closely. If I need to change the format of the course temporarily due to outbreaks of illness, I will announce this via email and the course Sakai site.
This semester, while we are in the midst of a global pandemic, all enrolled students are required to wear a mask covering your mouth and nose at all times in our classroom. This requirement is to protect our educational community — your classmates and me — as we learn together. If you choose not to wear a mask, or wear it improperly, I will ask you to leave immediately, and I will submit a report to the Office of Student Conduct. Students who have an authorized accommodation from ARS (see next item) have an exception. For additional information, see Carolina Together.
UNC-Chapel Hill facilitates the implementation of reasonable accommodations, including resources and services, for students with disabilities, including mental health disorders, chronic medical conditions, temporary disabilities, or pregnancy complications resulting in barriers to fully accessing University courses, programs and activities. Accommodations are determined through the Office of Accessibility Resources and Service (ARS) for individuals with documented qualifying disabilities in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. See their website ars.unc.edu for information, or email ars@unc.edu.
I value the perspectives of individuals from all backgrounds reflecting the diversity of our students. I broadly define diversity to include race, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, religion, social class, age, sexual orientation, political background, and physical and learning ability. I strive to make my classroom an inclusive space for all students. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve. I appreciate suggestions.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is strongly committed to addressing the mental health needs of a diverse student body through timely access to consultation and connection to clinically appropriate services, whether for short- or long-term needs. Go to their website caps.unc.edu or visit their facilities on the third floor of the Campus Health Service building for a walk-in evaluation to learn more. Students may also call CAPS anytime at 919-966-3658 for immediate support.
In this course, as in other University programs and activities, you should expect an environment free of discrimination, harassment, and other misconduct. If this expectation isn’t respected, here are links for more information about University policies, how to obtain support, and file grievances:
The University’s Policy Statement on Non-discrimination says:
The University is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment and to ensuring that educational and employment decisions are based on individuals’ abilities and qualifications. Consistent with these principles and applicable laws, it is therefore the University’s policy not to discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or veteran status as consistent with the University’s Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct. No person, on the basis of protected status, shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation under any University program or activity, including with respect to employment terms and conditions. Such a policy ensures that only relevant factors are considered and that equitable and consistent standards of conduct and performance are applied.
Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct
Students who are impacted by sexual discrimination, harassment, dating or relationship violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, or stalking are encouraged to seek resources on campus or in the community. Reports can be made online to the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office (EOC) using this form. Please contact the University’s Title IX Coordinator (Elizabeth Hall, interim titleixcoordinator@unc.edu), Report and Response Coordinators in the EOC (reportandresponse@unc.edu), Counseling and Psychological Services (confidential, link above), or the Gender Violence Services Coordinators (confidential, gvsc@unc.edu) to discuss your specific needs. Additional resources are available at safe.unc.edu.
If you’re experiencing other forms of harassment or discrimination contrary to University policies, you can also seek assistance through the Report and Response Coordinators in the EOC (reportandresponse@unc.edu), or file a report using the EOC form.
By attending UNC-Chapel Hill, you agree to abide by the University’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for IT systems and services. The AUP sets the expectation that you will use the University’s technology resources responsibly, consistent with the University’s mission. In the context of a course, it’s quite likely you will participate in online activities that could include personal information about you or your peers, and the AUP addresses your obligations to protect the privacy of class participants. In addition, the AUP addresses matters of others’ intellectual property, including copyright. These are only a couple of typical examples, so you should consult the full Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy, which covers topics related to using digital resources, such as privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property. Additionally, consult the Safe Computing at UNC website for information about the data security policies, updates, and tips on keeping your identity, information, and devices safe.
I reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus, including assignment due dates. These changes will be announced as early as possible so that students can adjust their schedules.
I welcome your input about the course at any time. You are welcome to approach me directly. I’ll also provide opportunities for anonymous evaluation and feedback during the term.