Course page

This is the web page of the course Logic and Reasoning in Natural Language.

The course is oriented for philosophy and cognitive science master students.

We discuss logic as a device of reasoning. We focus on reasoning with quantifiers (particularly syllogistic reasoning) and conditional reasoning (i.a. causal reasoning, Wason-selection task). We draw a distinction between logical and pragmatic inference in natural language,briefly presenting the basic problems in the semantic-pragmatics interface (i.e.deixis, implicature, presupposition). Finally, we discuss how certain aspects of reasoning can be investigated with experimental methods. The seminar consists of lectures, student presentations of journal articles as well as book chapters, and exercise sessions.

Grade is based on:

1. Presentations during the class
2. Written assignments
3. Exam

Language of instruction: English.

Prerequisites: basic logic course recommended

Literature:

M. van Lambalgen, K. Stenning, Human Reasoning and Cognitive Science

S. Levinson, Pragmatics

See: syllabus.pdf