In Modal Logic for Open Minds, Johan van Benthem provides an introduction to the field of modal logic, outlining its major ideas and exploring the numerous ways in which various academic fields have adopted it. Van Benthem begins with the basic theories of modal logic, examining its relationship to language, semantics, bisimulation, and axiomatics, and then covers more advanced topics, such as expressive power, computational complexity, and intelligent agency. Many of the chapters are followed by exercises, making this volume ideal for undergraduate and graduate students in philosophy, computer science, symbolic systems, cognitive science, and linguistics.
Author(s): Johan van Benthem
Series: Center for the Study of Language and Information - CSLI Lecture Notes 199
Publisher: CSLI Publications
Year: 2000
Language: English
Commentary: web preliminary version
Pages: 390
Preface ......Page 7
1 A whirlwind history, and changes in perspective ......Page 10
I Core Concepts ......Page 16
2 Basic language and semantics ......Page 20
3 Expressive power and invariance ......Page 34
4 Validity and decidability ......Page 46
5 Axioms, proofs, and completeness ......Page 58
6 Computation and complexity ......Page 70
II Basic Theory ......Page 80
7 Translation and varieties of expressive power ......Page 84
8 Increasing deductive power: the landscape of modal logics ......Page 100
9 What axioms say: frame correspondence ......Page 110
10 Descriptive power: extended modal languages ......Page 118
11 Modal predicate logic ......Page 128
III Selected Applications ......Page 136
12 Epistemic logic ......Page 142
13 Doxastic and conditional logic ......Page 156
14 Dynamic logic of actions and events ......Page 164
15 Logic and information dynamics ......Page 180
16 Preference and deontic logic ......Page 198
17 Modal logic and games ......Page 206
18 The structure and flow of time ......Page 216
19 Modal patterns in space ......Page 228
20 Intuitionistic logic ......Page 242
21 Provability logic ......Page 252
IV Recent Theoretical Themes ......Page 260
22 Fixed-points, computation, and equilibrium ......Page 264
23 Issues in information dynamics ......Page 274
24 System combination and undecidability ......Page 290
25 Abstract model theory ......Page 302
26 Deductive incompleteness ......Page 312
V Coda ......Page 320
27 Modal foundations for classical logic ......Page 324
A First-order predicate logic ......Page 332
B Modal algebra ......Page 342
Answers and hints to selected exercises ......Page 350
Guide to further literature ......Page 380
References ......Page 382
Index ......Page 388
