Formal Semantics and Philosophical Logic

Joop Leo: A new logic as an alternative to predicate logic


Speaker: Joop Leo
Title: A new logic as an alternative to predicate logic
Date:
Time: 14:00 - 15:30
Location: ILLC Seminar Room F1.15 and on Zoom

Talk starts at 14:00

Please note the unusual time of the talk, 14:00 - 15:30.

 

Zoom link

This talk will take place in a hybrid format. To join online, please click https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/82411163651.

 

Abstract

Predicate logic misleads us in some respects. In particular, it reinforces the misconception that the arguments of a relation always come in a linear order. What we would like to have is a logic in which we can talk about love just as naturally as we can talk about numbers. In this talk I will present a new logical framework which is intended as an alternative to predicate logic. The new logic is functional, fully untyped, and has no predicates except equality. Another key feature is that quantification is unrestricted. It will be argued that the new logic is conceptually simpler than first-order predicate logic, but has the expressive power of higher-order logic.