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Handbook of Undergraduate Studies 2006


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PHIL280: Truth and Existence

This course in philosophical logic is divided into two parts.

In the first part, students will be introduced to some of the important contemporary debates on truth. We will begin by considering a number of important theories of truth, and then turn to an examination of the semantic paradoxes such as the Liar paradox ('This sentence is false'), which seem to undermine our ability to provide an adequate definition of truth.

In the second part, students are introduced to the basics of modal propositional and predicate logics. However, the focus of this part of the course will be on philosophical questions arising within the semantics of modal logic concerning the existence of possible worlds and the nature of possible and necessary existents. Students will also study applications of modal logic to provide logics for knowledge, time, and conditionals.

Credit Points:4
Contact Hours:3
When Offered: D1 - Day; Offered in the first half-year
Staff Contact: Professor Menzies, Dr Duke-Yonge
Prerequisites:

PHIL134 or permission of Dean of Division or admission to GDipPhil

Corequisites:

NCCWs:

PHIL380

Unit Designations: Science
Assessed As: Graded
Offered By: Department of Philosophy

 
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