14 November 2016, AUC Logic Lectures, Johan van Benthem

Abstract:

Logicians have studied reasoning with quantificational expressions like "all" and "some" ever since Antiquity, as these lie at the basis of both ordinary language and the mathematical language of science. We will look at some history of logical systems for quantifiers, and show how these involve intriguing issues that are still alive today. We will touch lightly on the interplay of formal and natural languages (and its philosophical repercussions), the expressive power of natural language for discrete and continuous quantities, but also: fast natural quantifier inference versus slow deductive proof.