The course “Logic: Introduction to Logic 2019” was held as one class for Hokkaido Summer Institute 2018. The course lasted for 5 days, and was held from August 13th to August 17th.
This course was designed to help students attain the logical thinking skills necessary in any field. Both lectures and practice exercises were incorporated into classes.
In lectures, Professor Sano first started by considering what logic is, and lecture on “propositional logic,” “the language of modal logic and basic knowledge concerning its semantics,” and “first order predicate logic.” In practice exercises, Professor Sano and the teaching assistant would provide explanations of important points to help participants gain a more profound understanding of the subject matter.
Student surveys showed that lectures and practical exercises helped students better understand logic: “Having so many chances to solve problems for myself was a good thing. Thanks to that, I was able to get a grasp on what I do and don’t know.” “The explanations were so easy to understand.” “I struggled with some problems I wasn’t able to understand myself, but the professor’s explanations were very easy to follow.” This 5 day course also helped some students master the basics of logic in order to prepare for the course given next week on Philosophy: Dynamic Epistemic Logic and its Applications taught by Professor Sano, Dr. Hans van Ditmarsch (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France), and Professor Emeritus Tomoyuki Yamada (Hokkaido University).
