Title Dynamic Logic and Dynamic Semantics
Lecturer Péter Mekis
Codes BBN-FIL-402.106, BBN-FIL-236.15, BMI-LOTD-406E.04, BMA-LOTD-406.04, BMA-FILD-236.19, BMA-FILD-402.135
Time Tuesday 16:00-17:30
Venue i-104
Prerequisites The course assumes some familiarity with the basic concepts and methods of modern formal logic; most importantly, the basics of translating ordinary propositions into formulas with predicates, constants, variables, propositional connectives, and quantifiers.
Getting a grade There will be two possible ways to get a grade:
  • solving and submitting homeworks during the course;
  • giving a presentation at the end of the course, based on a paper (chosen from a list of titles that will be given in time).
Description While the standard, static approach identifies the meaning of a formula or a natural language sentence with its truth conditions, the dynamic approach conceives meaning as information changing potential. The course will discuss various aspects of this dynamic approach to the semantics of formal and natural languages, motivated both by arguments taken from The sessions will cover the following topics:
  1. introduction: motivations (1 session);
  2. dynamic propositional logic (1 session);
  3. quantificational dynamic logic (1 session);
  4. Groenendijk & Stokhof's DPL (3 sessions);
  5. DPL with intensional semantics (2 sessions);
  6. Veltman's update semantics (2 sessions);
  7. philosophical considerations (2 sessions).
The topics may change during the course, in accordance with student demand.
Slides (Updated weekly! Contains all previous slides!)
Literature
  • Slides (updated during the course)
  • Harel & al, Dynamic logic. In Gabbay & al. (ed.), Handbook of Philosophical Logic. Vol 4. 99--218.
  • Muskens & al., Dynamics. In Van Benthem & al., ed., Handbook of Logic and Language . 587--648.
  • Dekker, Dynamic Semantics. Springer, 2012.
  • Groenendijk & Stokhof, Dynamic predicate logic. Linguistics & Philosophy 14 (1991)
  • Groenendijk & Stokhof, Dynamic Montague Grammar. In: Kálman & Pólos (eds), Proceedings of the Second Symposion on Logic and Language. Eötvös Loránd University Press, 1990. 3--48.
  • Groenendijk, Stokhof, & Veltman, Coreference and Modality. In: Lappin (ed), Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory. Blackwell, 1996. 179--216.
  • Veltman, Defaults in update semantics. N/A