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178The taming of the trueOxford University Press. 1997.The Taming of the True poses a broad challenge to realist views of meaning and truth that have been prominent in recent philosophy. Neil Tennant argues compellingly that every truth is knowable, and that an effective logical system can be based on this principle. He lays the foundations for global semantic anti-realism and extends its consequences from the philosophy of mathematics and logic to the theory of meaning, metaphysics, and epistemology.
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1Delicate proof theoryIn Brian Jack Copeland (ed.) https://philpapers.org/rec/COPLAR, Oxford University Press. pp. 351--385. 1996.
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130Normalizability, cut eliminability and paradoxSynthese 199 (Suppl 3): 597-616. 2016.This is a reply to the considerations advanced by Schroeder-Heister and Tranchini as prima facie problematic for the proof-theoretic criterion of paradoxicality, as originally presented in Tennant and subsequently amended in Tennant. Countering these considerations lends new importance to the parallelized forms of elimination rules in natural deduction.
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102Truth table logic, with a survey of embeddability resultsNotre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 30 (3): 459-484. 1989.Kalrnaric. We set out a system T, consisting of normal proofs constructed by means of elegantly symmetrical introduction and elimination rules. In the system T there are two requirements, called ( ) and ()), on applications of discharge rules. T is sound and complete for Kalmaric arguments. ( ) requires nonvacuous discharge of assumptions; ()) requires that the assumption discharged be the sole one available of highest degree. We then consider a 'Duhemian' extension T*, obtained simply by droppi…Read more
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96Theory-Contraction is NP-CompleteLogic Journal of the IGPL 11 (6): 675-693. 2003.I investigate the problem of contracting a dependency-network with respect to any of its nodes. The resulting contraction must not contain the node in question, but must also be a minimal mutilation of the original network. Identifying successful and minimally mutilating contractions of dependency-networks is non-trivial, especially when non-well-founded networks are to be taken into account. I prove that the contraction problem is NP-complete.1
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87Changes of mind: an essay on rational belief revisionOxford University Press. 2012.An account of how a rational agent should revise beliefs in the light of new evidence.
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La barre de Scheffer dans la logique des séquents et des syllogismesLogique Et Analyse 22 (88): 505. 1979.
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19Written for any readers interested in better harnessing philosophy's real value, this book covers a broad range of fundamental philosophical problems and certain intellectual techniques for addressing those problems. In Introducing Philosophy: God, Mind, World, and Logic, Neil Tennant helps any student in pursuit of a 'big picture' to think independently, question received dogma, and analyse problems incisively. It also connects philosophy to other areas of study at the university, enabling all …Read more
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146Recursive Semantics For Knowledge and BeliefThe Monist 60 (3): 419-430. 1977.1. This paper is an informal exposition of a model-theoretic semantics for knowledge and belief set out in full detail else where. Considerations of space and simplicity prevent any recapitulation of tracts of formal definitions. My aim is simply to inform the reader of the alleged existence of one “new direction” in semantics, and to direct him to the original source for its detailed development. I shall explain certain self-imposed limitations on the scope and adequacy conditions of this treat…Read more
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BOSTOCK, D. "Logic and Arithmetic, Vol. II-Rational and Irrational Numbers" (review)Mind 90 (n/a): 473. 1981.
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158Parts, classes and Parts of Classes : an anti-realist reading of Lewisian mereologySynthese 190 (4): 709-742. 2013.This study is in two parts. In the first part, various important principles of classical extensional mereology are derived on the basis of a nice axiomatization involving ‘part of’ and fusion. All results are proved here with full Fregean rigor. They are chosen because they are needed for the second part. In the second part, this natural-deduction framework is used in order to regiment David Lewis’s justification of his Division Thesis, which features prominently in his combination of mereology …Read more
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71What might logic and methodology have offered the Dover School Board, had they been willing to listen?Public Affairs Quarterly 21 (2): 149-167. 2007.
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23The aim here is to describe how to complete the constructive logicist program, in the author’s book Anti-Realism and Logic, of deriving all the Peano-Dedekind postulates for arithmetic within a theory of natural numbers that also accounts for their applicability in counting finite collections of objects. The axioms still to be derived are those for addition and multiplication. Frege did not derive them in a fully explicit, conceptually illuminating way. Nor has any neo-Fregean done so.
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369Anti-realism and logic: truth as eternalOxford University Press. 1987.Anti-realism is a doctrine about logic, language, and meaning that is based on the work of Wittgenstein and Frege. In this book, Professor Tennant clarifies and develops Dummett's arguments for anti-realism and ultimately advocates a radical reform of our logical practices.
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278Deflationism and the Gödel phenomena: Reply to KetlandMind 114 (453): 89-96. 2005.I am not a deflationist. I believe that truth and falsity are substantial. The truth of a proposition consists in its having a constructive proof, or truthmaker. The falsity of a proposition consists in its having a constructive disproof, or falsitymaker. Such proofs and disproofs will need to be given modulo acceptable premisses. The choice of these premisses will depend on the discourse in question.
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192Logic, Mathematics, and the A Priori, Part II: Core Logic as Analytic, and as the Basis for Natural LogicismPhilosophia Mathematica 22 (3): 321-344. 2014.We examine the sense in which logic is a priori, and explain how mathematical theories can be dichotomized non-trivially into analytic and synthetic portions. We argue that Core Logic contains exactly the a-priori-because-analytically-valid deductive principles. We introduce the reader to Core Logic by explaining its relationship to other logical systems, and stating its rules of inference. Important metatheorems about Core Logic are reported, and its important features noted. Core Logic can ser…Read more
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46Theories, concepts and rationality in an evolutionary account of scienceBiology and Philosophy 3 (2): 224-231. 1988.
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86Contracting Intuitionistic TheoriesStudia Logica 80 (2-3): 369-391. 2005.I reformulate the AGM-account of contraction (which would yield an account also of revision). The reformulation involves using introduction and elimination rules for relational notions. Then I investigate the extent to which the two main methods of partial meet contraction and safe contraction can be employed for theories closed under intuitionistic consequence.
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1Jaakko Hintikka, The Principles of Mathematics RevisitedPhilosophia Mathematica 6 (1): 90-115. 1998.
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169Inferentialism is explained as an attempt to provide an account of meaning that is more sensitive (than the tradition of truth-conditional theorizing deriving from Tarski and Davidson) to what is learned when one masters meanings.
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239Rule-Circularity and the Justification of DeductionPhilosophical Quarterly 55 (221). 2005.I examine Paul Boghossian's recent attempt to argue for scepticism about logical rules. I argue that certain rule- and proof-theoretic considerations can avert such scepticism. Boghossian's 'Tonk Argument' seeks to justify the rule of tonk-introduction by using the rule itself. The argument is subjected here to more detailed proof-theoretic scrutiny than Boghossian undertook. Its sole axiom, the so-called Meaning Postulate for tonk, is shown to be false or devoid of content. It is also shown tha…Read more
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