| First-Order Modal Logic 1998 Edition Contributor(s): Fitting, M. (Author), Mendelsohn, Richard L. (Author) |
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ISBN: 079235334X ISBN-13: 9780792353348 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $237.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 1998 * Not available - Not in print at this time *Annotation: Fitting and Mendelsohn present a thorough treatment of first-order modal logic, together with some propositional background. They adopt throughout a threefold approach. Semantically, they use possible world models; the formal proof machinery is tableaus; and full philosophical discussions are provided of the way that technical developments bear on well-known philosophical problems. The book covers quantification itself, including the difference between actualist and possibilist quantifiers; equality, leading to a treatment of Frege's morning star/evening star puzzle; the notion of existence and the logical problems surrounding it; non-rigid constants and function symbols; predicate abstraction, which abstracts a predicate from a formula, in effect providing a scoping function for constants and function symbols, leading to a clarification of ambiguous readings at the heart of several philosophical problems; the distinction between nonexistence and nondesignation; and definite descriptions, borrowing from both Fregean and Russellian paradigms. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | Logic |
| Dewey: 160 |
| LCCN: 98037504 |
| Series: Synthese Library (Hardcover) |
| Physical Information: 0.75" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (1.34 lbs) 292 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Fitting and Mendelsohn present a thorough treatment of first-order modal logic, together with some propositional background. They adopt throughout a threefold approach. Semantically, they use possible world models; the formal proof machinery is tableaus; and full philosophical discussions are provided of the way that technical developments bear on well-known philosophical problems. The book covers quantification itself, including the difference between actualist and possibilist quantifiers; equality, leading to a treatment of Frege's morning star/evening star puzzle; the notion of existence and the logical problems surrounding it; non-rigid constants and function symbols; predicate abstraction, which abstracts a predicate from a formula, in effect providing a scoping function for constants and function symbols, leading to a clarification of ambiguous readings at the heart of several philosophical problems; the distinction between nonexistence and nondesignation; and definite descriptions, borrowing from both Fregean and Russellian paradigms. |