Modality on the Move

About the project

There is no need to emphasize how important modal logic is to many areas, such as philosophy, computer science and cognition sciences, etc. Just check the recent Handbook of Modal Logic to see its broad modern sweep. Professor Johan van Benthem started his research in the 1970s with a Ph.D. thesis on modal correspondence theory, and the general model theory of modal logic. Ever since that time, he has worked with a 'tandem approach' developing modal languages and classical ones (first-order, or higher-order) side by side. He has used these formalisms to study temporal and spatial reasoning, but in particular, since the 'Dynamic Turn' in the 1980s, he has worked on developing new modal and dynamic theories of information and computation. Investigating the dynamics of information update, belief revision, and preference change provides a clearer understanding of how information flows and communication works. In particular, in this setting, interaction between different agents has become a central theme in his papers of modal logics of games.

The plan of the current project is to translate van Benthem's papers on the above modal logic related topics into Chinese. The aim is to make his works accessible to a wider variety of Chinese readers in various disciplines.

Meanwhile, we realize that such a translation is not an easy job. We are trying our best to get a correct understanding first and then put the English texts into Chinese. For more information about the translators in our team, papers currently under translation, and the latest news on our project, please read on.

WHO are involved?

Jiahong Guo Beijing Normal University, Beijing

Meiyun Guo Southwest University, Chongqing

Yizhao Hu Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing

Fenrong Liu Tsinghua University & University of Amsterdam

Xinwen Liu Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing

Junwei Yu Renmin University, Beijing

Jiangjie Qiu Peking University, Beijing

Johan van Benthem Picture from September 2004 at Peking University

Papers to translate

• Modal Correspondence Theory, reprint with addenda, in D. Gabbay, ed., Handbook of Philosophical Logic, vol. III., second edition, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 325-408, 1999. (Translated by Junwei Yu, checked by Xinwen Liu).
• Modal Logic in Two Gestalts, in M. de Rijke, H. Wansing & M. Zakharyashev, eds., Advances in Modal logic II, Uppsala 1998, CSLI Publications, Stanford, 73-100. (Translated by Xinwen Liu, checked by Yizhao Hu and Jiangjie Qiu).
• Guards, Bounds and Generalized Semantics, Journal of Logic, Language and Information (2005) 14: 263-279. (Translated by Xinwen Liu, checked by Yizhao Hu and Jiangjie Qiu).

• A Note on Dynamic Arrow Logic, In J. van Eijck and A. Visser, editors, Logic and Information Flow, pages 15-29. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1994. (Translated by Xinwen Liu, checked by Yizhao Hu and Jiangjie Qiu).
• Modal Foundations for Predicate Logic, Logic Journal of IGPL (1997) 5(2): 259-286. (Translated by Yizhao Hu and Jiangjie Qiu, checked by Junwen Yu).
• Program Constructions that are Safe for Bisimulation, Studia Logica (1998) 60: 311-330. (Translated by Jiangjie Qiu, checked by Junwen Yu).

• One is a Lonely Number: on the Logic of Communication. In Z. Chatzidakis, P. Koepke & W. Pohlers, eds., 2006, Logic Colloquium '02, ASL & A.K. Peters, Wellesley MA, 96-129. You can also check this version. (Translated by Meiyun Guo, checked by Jiahong Guo).
• Dynamic Logic of Belief Revision, to appear in the Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics 2006. (Translated by Meiyun Guo, checked by Fenrong Liu).
• Dynamic Logic of Preference Upgrade, to appear in the Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics 2006. (Translated Jiahong Guo, checked by Meiyun Guo).

• Games in Dynamic-Epistemic Logic, Bulletin of Economic Research (2000) 53(4): 219-248. (Translated by Fenrong Liu, checked by Meiyun Guo).
• Extensive Games as Process Models, Journal of Logic, Language and Information (2002) 11, 289-313. (Translated by Meiyun Guo, checked by Fenrong Liu).
• Logic Games are Complete for Game Logics, Studia Logica (2003) 75, 183-203. (Translated by Fenrong Liu, checked by Jiahong Guo).
• Rational Dynamics and Epistemic Logic in Games. (Translated by Jiahong Guo, checked by Meiyun Guo).

Important practical points

Links to the relevant books by van Benthem on Modal Logic

• J. van Benthem, Modal Logic and Classical Logic, Bibliopolis, Napoli, 1983.
• J. van Benthem, Correspondence theory, in D. Gabbay, F. Guenther (ed.) , Handbook of Philosophical Logic, II, Reidel, 1984, pp. 167-242.
• J. van Benthem, The Logic of Time, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1983.
• J. van Benthem, Exploring Logical Dynamics, CSLI Publications, Stanford, 1996.
• P. Blackburn, J. van Benthem, F. Wolter (ed.), Handbook of Modal Logic, Elsevier, 2006.

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Last updated: 4 March 2007