W. J. Blok and Don Pigozzi set out to try to answer the question of what it means for a logic to have algebraic semantics. In this seminal book they transformed the study of algebraic logic by giving a general framework for the study of logics by algebraic means. The Dutch mathematician W. J. Blok (1947-2003) received his doctorate from the University of Amsterdam in 1979 and was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois, Chicago until his death in (...) an automobile accident. Don Pigozzi (1935- ) grew up in Oakland, California, received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1970, and was Professor of Mathematics at Iowa State University until his retirement in 2002. The Advanced Reasoning Forum is pleased to make available in its Classic Reprints series this exact reproduction of the 1989 text, with a new errata sheet prepared by Don Pigozzi. (shrink)

We prove that the equational theory of a semigroups becomes undecidable if we add a semilattice structure with a ‘touch of symmetric difference’. As a corollary we obtain that the variety of all Boolean algebras with an associative binary operator has a ‘hereditarily’ undecidable equational theory. Our results have implications in logic, e.g. they imply undecidability of modal logics extending the Lambek Calculus and undecidability of Arrow Logics with an associative arrow modality.

By theword problemfor some class of algebraic structures we mean the problem of determining, given a finite setEof equations between words and an additional equationx=y, whetherx=ymust hold in all structures satisfying each member ofE. In 1947 Post [P] showed the word problem for semigroups to be undecidable. This result was strengthened in 1950 by Turing, who showed the word problem to be undecidable forcancellation semigroups,i.e. semigroups satisfying thecancellation propertyNovikov [N] eventually showed the word problem for groups to be undecidable.In 1966 (...) Gurevich [G] showed the word problem to be undecidable forfinitesemigroups. However, this result on finite structures has not been extended to cancellation semigroups or groups; indeed it is easy to see that a finite cancellation semigroup is a group, so both questions are the same. We do not here settle the word problem for finite groups, but we do show that the word problem is undecidable for finite semigroups with zero satisfying an approximation to the cancellation property. (shrink)

We show the undecidability of the equational theories of some classes of BAOs with a non-associative, residuated binary extra-Boolean operator. These results solve problems in Jipsen [9], Pratt [21] and Roorda [22], [23]. This paper complements Andréka-Kurucz-Németi-Sain-Simon [3] where the emphasis is on BAOs with an associative binary operator.

This paper gives an overview on translation methods we have developed for nonclassical logics, in particular for modal logics. Optimized ‘functional’ and semi-functional translation into predicate logic is described. Using normal modal logic as an intermediate logic, other logics can be translated into predicate logic as well. As an example, the translation of modal logic of graded modalities is sketched. In the second part of the paper it is shown how to translate Hilbert axioms into properties of the semantic structure (...) and vice versa., i.e. we can automate important parts of correspondence theory. The exact formalisms and the soundness and completeness proofs can be found in the original papers. (shrink)