Formal logic is the study of the structure of reasoning itself—how arguments are built, when they succeed, and why they fail. In an age of information overload, knowing how to dissect an argument, detect reasoning errors, and construct rigorous proofs is a superpower. This course introduces the foundations of formal logic, with an emphasis on precision, clarity, and critical thinking tools. From everyday statements to abstract puzzles, you will learn how to translate ideas into symbolic form and test their validity.
This is not your typical class in computer science, or in formal logic; but you will learn a lot about both by taking it. Our subject will be one of the most important and influential papers that has ever been written—“On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem,” by Alan Turing. This is the paper that birthed computer science as a discipline. Understanding it requires that you be comfortable with some mathematical concepts (powers and roots) and with thinking abstractly; but the most important prerequisite for understanding this paper is determination. What is the best way to characterize Turing’s paper? Simple. It changed the world.
