Subject. The first part of the course will focus on natural language conditionals and on whether the logical principle modus ponens holds for these conditionals. Then, we will turn to the principle of non-contradiction. The discussion of this principle will include both an examination of the contemporary debate on dialetheism and a historical excursus on Aristotle's defense of the principle. The last part of the course will deal with the logical problems raised by the context-sensitivity of natural languages.

Prerequisites. In the first part of the course, we will devote some time to go over the logical tools required for the course.

The exam. A term paper (10-15 pages, no more) to be handed in by December 12.

Readings. Here are some papers organized by topic. You pick a topic, browse through the papers on that topic, and write your term paper on a problem that catches your fancy. I might add more papers as we go along to provide more options. The unstarred papers are background readings. To write your term paper you should concentrate on the starred papers.

CONDITIONALS AND MODUS PONENS
Stalnaker, R. (1968). "A Theory of Conditionals." In N Rescher (ed.), Studies in Logical Theory, 98-112. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers. pdf

MacFarlane J. (2021) Philosophical logic. A Contemporary Introduction, Routledge, chapter IV pdf

Cariani F. (2013) ''Modus Ponens'', APhEx 7 pdf

*Dummett M. (1964) "Bringing about the past", Philosophical Review, 53:3, pp. 338-359. pdf

*Jackson F. (1989) "On assertion and indicative conditionals", Philosophical Review, 88:4, pp. 565-589. pdf

Lewis D. (1986)"Postscript to conditional propbabilities and probabilities of conditionals", Philosophical Papers, Vol. II, Oxford University Press pdf

*Lycan W. (1993), ''MPP, RIP'', Philosophical Perspectives, 7, pp. 411-428. pdf

*McGee V. (1985), ''A Counterexample to Modus Ponens'', Journal of Philosophy, 82, pp. 462-471. pdf

*Kolodny N., MacFarlane J. (2010), ''Ifs and oughts'', Journal of Philosophy, 107:3, pp. 115-143. pdf

*Mandelkern M. (2021) "If p, then p!", Journal of Philosophy, 118:12, pp. 645-679. pdf

*Nolan D. (1997) "Impossible worlds: a modest approach", Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 38:4, pp. 535-572 pdf

*Stalnaker R. (1975) "Indicative conditionals", Philosophia 5:3, pp. 269-286 pdf

THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-CONTRADICTION IN ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY
Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book Gamma, Eng. Tr. by W. D. Ross, revised by J. Barnes. pdf

*Anscombe E. (1961) "Aristotle", in Anscombe E. and P. T. Geach, Three Philosophers, Cornell University Press, pp. 39-43. pdf

*Baltzly D. (1999) "Aristotle and Platonic Dialectic in Metaphysics Gamma 4", Apeiron, 32:3, pp. 171-202 pdf

Berti E. (1987) Contraddizione e dialettica negli antichi e nei moderni, L'Epos, Palermo. pdf

*Cavini W. (2007) "Principia contradictionis. Sui principi aristotelici della contraddizione(§§ 1-3)", Antiqvorum Philosophia, pp. 123-169. pdf

*Cavini W. (2008) "Principia contradictionis. Sui principi aristotelici della contraddizione(§ 4)", Antiqvorum Philosophia, pp. 159-187. pdf

*Cresswell, M. J. (2003) "Non-Contradiction and Substantial Predication", Theoria, 69, pp. 166-183. pdf

*Degnan M. J. (1999) "What is the Scope of Aristotle's Defense of the PNC?", Apeiron, 32:3, pp. 243-274. pdf

*Lear J. (1980) "Proof by refutation", in Lear, J. (1980) Aristotle and Logical Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pdf

*Lear J. (1988)"The most certain principle of being" from Lear, J. (1988) Aristotle: the desire to understand, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pdf

*Lukasiewicz J. (1971) "On the Principle of Contradiction in Aristotle", The Review of Metaphysics, 24:3, pp. 485-509 pdf

*Priest G. (1998) "To be and not to be? that is the answer. On Aristotle on the Law of Non-Contradiction," Philosophiegeschichte und Logische Analyse, 1:91-130. pdf

Franco Repellini F. (2005) "Aristotele e l'ontologia della Metafisica", in: AA. VV., La storia dell'ontologia, a cura di E. S. Storace, Milano, Albo Versorio, pp. 31-45. pdf

*Wedin M. V. (2004) "Aristotle on the Firmness of the Principle of Non-Contradiction", Phronesis, 49:3, pp. 225-265. pdf

*Wedin M. V. (1999) "The Scope of Non-Contradiction: A Note on Aristotle's 'Elenctic' Proof in "Metaphysics" Gamma", Apeiron, 32:3, pp. 231-242. pdf

THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-CONTRADICTION IN THE CONTEMPORARY DEBATE
*Priest G., Beall J. C., Armour-Garb B. (2004) The Law of Non-Contradiction: New Philosophical Essays, Oxford University Press. pdf

*Smiley T. (1993) "Can Contradictions Be True?", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary 67, pp. 17-33. pdf

*Priest G. (1993) "Can Contradictions Be True?", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary 67, pp. 35-54. pdf

CONTEXT-SENSITIVITY IN NATURAL LANGUAGES
Cappelen H. and Dever J. (2016) Context and Communication, Oxford University Press, Oxford pdf

*Bach K. (2006) "The excluded middle: semantic minimalism without minimal propositions", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, LXXIII:2, pp. 435-442. pdf

*Elbourne P. (2008) "The argument from binding", Philosophical Perspectives, 22, 47-68. pdf

*Elbourne P. (2020) "Weather predicates, binding, and radical
contextualism", Mind & Language, pp. 1-17. pdf

*Lasersohn P. (1999) "Pragmatic halos", Language, 75:3, pp. 522-551. pdf

*Marti L. (2006) "Unarticulated constituents revisited", Linguistics and Philosophy 29, pp. 135-166. pdf

*Stanley J. (2000). "Context and Logical Form", Linguistics and Philosophy, 23, pp. 391-434. pdf

*Stanley, J. (2002). Making it articulated. Mind & Language, 17, pp. 149-168. pdf

Slides. Here are the slides I use for the course and the assignments. I upload them as we go along.

Lecture one (Italian, English)
Assignment one (Italian, English)

Lecture two (English)
Assignment two (English)

Lecture three (English)
Assignment three (English)

Lecture four (English)
Assignment four (English)

Lecture five (English)

Lecture six (English)

Lecture seven (English)

Lecture eight (English)

Lecture nine (English)

Lecture ten (English)

Lecture eleven (English)

Lecture twelve (English)

Lecture thirteen (English)