Die Logik ist keine Lehre, sondern ein Spiegelbild der Welt.
Logik ist transzendental.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein's (1921, 6.13) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in the original German
Logic is not a body of doctrine, but a mirror-reflection of the world.
Logic is transcendental.
- Pears/McGuinness translation
Symbolic Notation
φ ⊦Lψ
General form of an argument in which L denotes a formal system
A formal system L consists of:
An alphabet containing symbols from which formulae are generated;
A well-defined syntax, specifying which formulae are wffs (or well-formed formulae);
A well-defined semantics, associating formulae with their respective meanings;
A well-defined proof theory, making precise how reasoning in that system is to proceed by manipulating formulae in accordance with certain rules
x, y, z
Individual variables (lower-cased)
NOTE: You could add subscript if you have many distinct individual variables (e.g. x1, x2, etc)
a, b, c, …, w
Individual constants (lower-cased)
R, G, …
n-ary relations (upper-cased)
∼, ∧, ∨, →, ⟷
Truth-functional logical connectives:
∼ denotes a negation: '∼p' denotes 'not-p'
∧ denotes a conjunction: 'p ∧ q' denotes 'p and q'
∨ denotes an inclusive disjunction: 'p ∨ q' denotes 'p or q'
→ denotes a material conditional: 'p → q' denotes 'if p then q'
⟷ denotes a material biconditional: 'p ⟷ q' denotes 'p iff q' (or 'if p then q and if q then p')
NOTE: An inclusive disjunction (denoted by '∨') is distinct from an exclusive disjunction (denoted by '⊻')
In an inclusive disjunction p ∨ q, at least one of the two disjuncts (p or q) would have to be true
In an exclusive disjunction p ⊻ q, at least and at most one of the two disjuncts (p or q) would have to be true
Suppose both p and q are true
∴ p ∨ q (for 'p or q' in an inclusive sense) would be true
∴ p ⊻ q (for 'p or q' in an exclusive sense) would be false
∀, ∃
Quantifiers in first-order predicate or quantificational logic:
'∀x' denotes 'for all x'
'∃x' denotes 'for some x' or 'there exists at least one x'
□, ◇
Modal operators in alethic modal logic:
'□p' denotes that 'p is necessarily true'
'◇p' denotes that 'p is possibly true'
O, P
Deontic operators in deontic logic:
'Op' denotes that 'The action whose performance is described in p is obligatory'
'Pp' denotes that 'The action whose performance is described in p is permissible'
B, K, C
Epistemic operators in epistemic logic:
'Bap' denotes that 'Agent a believes that p'
'Kap' denotes that 'Agent a knows that p'
'CGp' denotes that 'A group of agents G has common knowledge that p'
F, G, X, U
Temporal operators in temporal logic:
'Fφ' denotes that 'Finally, at some state on the path, the property φ will hold'
'Gφ' denotes that 'Globally, along the entire path, the property φ will hold'
'Xφ' denotes that 'At the next state of the path, the property φ will hold'
'φUψ' denotes that 'For 2 properties φ and ψ, the 1st property φ holds at every state along the path until at some state the 2nd property ψ holds'