Our topic is the notion of logical consequence: the link between premises and conclusions, the glue that holds together deductively valid argument. How can we understand this relation between premises and conclusions? It seems that any account begs questions. Painting with very broad brushtrokes, we can sketch the landscape of disagreement like this: “Realists” prefer an analysis of logical consequence in terms of the preservation of truth [29]. “Anti-realists” take this to be unhelpful and o:er alternative analyses. Some, like Dummett, (...) look to preservation of warrant to assert [9, 36]. Others, like Brandom [5], take inference as primitive, and analyse other notions in terms of it. There is plenty of disagreement on the “realist” side of the fence too. It is one thing to argue that logical consequence involves preservation of truth. It is another to explain how far truth must be preserved. Is the preservation essentially modal (in all circumstances [25]) or analytic (vouchsafed by.. (shrink)

This paper argues that logical inferentialists should reject multiple-conclusion logics. Logical inferentialism is the position that the meanings of the logical constants are determined by the rules of inference they obey. As such, logical inferentialism requires a proof-theoretic framework within which to operate. However, in order to fulfil its semantic duties, a deductive system has to be suitably connected to our inferential practices. I argue that, contrary to an established tradition, multiple-conclusion systems are ill-suited for this purpose because they fail (...) to provide a 'natural' representation of our ordinary modes of inference. Moreover, the two most plausible attempts at bringing multiple conclusions into line with our ordinary forms of reasoning, the disjunctive reading and the bilateralist denial interpretation, are unacceptable by inferentialist standards. (shrink)

Sections 1, 2 and 3 contain the main result, the strong finite axiomatizability of all 2-valued matrices. Since non-strongly finitely axiomatizable 3-element matrices are easily constructed the result reveals once again the gap between 2-valued and multiple-valued logic. Sec. 2 deals with the basic cases which include the important F i from Post's classification. The procedure in Sec. 3 reduces the general problem to these cases. Sec. 4 is a study of basic algebraic properties of 2-element algebras. In particular, we (...) show that equational completeness is equivalent to the Stone-property and that each 2-element algebra generates a minimal quasivariety. The results of Sec. 4 will be applied in Sec. 5 to maximality questions and to a matrix free characterization of 2-valued consequences in the lattice of structural consequences in any language. Sec. 6 takes a look at related axiomatization. problems for finite algebras and matrices. We study the notion of a propositional consequence with equality and, among other things, present explicit axiomatizations of 2-valued consequences with equality. (shrink)

There are exactly two nonfinitely axiomatizable algebraic matrices with one binary connective o such thatx(yz) is a tautology of . This answers a question asked by W. Rautenberg in [2], P. Wojtylak in [8] and W. Dziobiak in [1]. Since every 2-element matrix can be finitely axiomatized ([3]), the matrices presented here are of the smallest possible size and in some sense are the simplest possible.

We provide a general investigation of Logic in which the notion of a simple consequence relation is taken to be fundamental. Our notion is more general than the usual one since we give up monotonicity and use multisets rather than sets. We use our notion for characterizing several known logics (including Linear Logic and non-monotonic logics) and for a general, semantics-independent classi cation of standard connectives via equations on consequence relations (these include Girard's \multiplicatives" and \additives"). We next investigate the (...) standard methods for uniformly representing consequence relations: Hilbert type, Natural Deduction and Gentzen type. The advantages and disadvantages of using each system and what should be taken as.. (shrink)

The classesMatr( ) of all matrices (models) for structural finitistic entailments are investigated. The purpose of the paper is to prove three theorems: Theorem I.7, being the counterpart of the main theorem from Czelakowski [3], and Theorems II.2 and III.2 being the entailment counterparts of Bloom's results [1]. Theorem I.7 states that if a classK of matrices is adequate for , thenMatr( ) is the least class of matrices containingK and closed under the formation of ultraproducts, submatrices, strict homomorphisms and (...) strict homomorphic pre-images. Theorem II.2 in Section II gives sufficient and necessary conditions for a structural entailment to be finitistic. Section III contains theorems which characterize finitely based entailments. (shrink)

Non-deterministic matrices are multiple-valued structures in which the value assigned by a valuation to a complex formula can be chosen non-deterministically out of a certain nonempty set of options. We consider two different types of semantics which are based on Nmatrices: the dynamic one and the static one . We use the Rasiowa-Sikorski decomposition methodology to get sound and complete proof systems employing finite sets of mv-signed formulas for all propositional logics based on such structures with either of the above (...) types of semantics. Later we demonstrate how these systems can be converted into cut-free ordinary Gentzen calculi which are also sound and complete for the corresponding non-deterministic semantics. As a by-product, we get new semantic characterizations for some well-known logics. (shrink)

. The paper presents a method for transforming a given sound and complete n-sequent proof system into an equivalent sound and complete system of ordinary sequents. The method is applicable to a large, central class of (generalized) finite-valued logics with the language satisfying a certain minimal expressiveness condition. The expressiveness condition decrees that the truth-value of any formula φ must be identifiable by determining whether certain formulas uniformly constructed from φ have designated values or not. The transformation preserves the general (...) structure of proofs in the original calculus in a way ensuring preservation of the weak cut elimination theorem under the transformation. The described transformation metod is illustrated on several concrete examples of many-valued logics, including a new application to information sources logics. (shrink)

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)

The question whether the consequence operation of a nite matrix is always nitely based was proposed by S. L. Bloom [1] and also by R. Wojcicki [3]. The negative answer { a six-element matrix { was given in [4] and next a ve-element matrix was found by A. Urquhart [2]. In this paper we will show that no nite basis exists for the consequence operation CM of the matrix M = hhf0; 1; 2g; i; f2gi where is a binary operation (...) such that 0 1 = 0 and a b = 2 otherwise. Our proof is a slight modication of that given by A. Urquhart in [2] and most of the notions and techniques used here are borrowed from [2]. Our result, however, is the best possible because every consequence operation of a two element matrix is nitely based. (shrink)