Logic: Historical background, Representing knowledge in logic, Varieties of logic, Name, Type,
Measures, Unity Amidst diversity.
1. Historical Background of Logic
The study of logic dates back to ancient civilizations and has evolved through various eras:
Socrates: Relentless questioning Truth, Beauty, Virtue and Justice
Plato:The student of Socrates Epistomology(The study of Knowledge and its justification)
Nature of knowledge
Aristotle: The student of Plato Representing knowledge
Terminology(scope of logic, physics, metaphysics, biology, psychology, linguistics, politics,
ethics and economics)
Category,Metaphor and Hypothesis(Greek)
Quantity, Quality, genus, Species, noun, verb, subject and predicate(Latin)
Syllogisms: Three part pattern for representing a logical deduction, Which combines two
premises to derive a conclusion.
Example:
If all broad-leafed plants are deciduous, (Major premises)
And all vines are broad-leafed plants, (Minor premises)
Then all vines are deciduous ( conclusion)
Rule of inference: rules for converting one pattern into another while preserving the truth.
Scholastic Logic: Assigned vowels A,I,E and O for 4 basic types of propositions
A: Universal affirmative, All a is b
I: Particular affirmative, Some a is b
E: Universal negative, No a is b
O: Particular negative, Some a is not b
Pattern Barbara:
Pattern Celarent:
Pattern Darii:
Pattern Ferio:
Semantic Networks: Graphic notations Tree of Porphyry
Automated Reasoning: Ramon Lull invented first mechanical device for automated reasoning
Ten types of questions: Whether? What? From What? Why? How much? What kind? When?
Where? How? and With what?
Outer circle is labeled with nine attributes of God- Goodness, Magnitude, Duration, Power,
Wisdom, Will, Strength, Truth and Glory
Inner circle is labeled with the corresponding adjectives
The disk will rotate to generate all possible combinations of attributes.
Mathematical Logic: Leibniz used mathematics to formalize the patterns of syllogistic
reasoning. Used the numbers for representing the patterns. For some patterns it is true. But for
others it is failed.
T-Box and A-Box: Ron Brachman(1983) discovered Terminological Reasoner(T-Box) for
defining terms and Assertional Reasoner(A-Box) for making assertions about the terms.
Boolean Algebra: George Boole(1854) used the numbers to represent truth values(0 or 1) rather
than categories
Truth Tables: Charles Sanders Peirce made extensions to Boolean Algebra
Frege’s Begriffsschrift: Gottlob Frege (1879) explained the relationships between the concepts
with his Begriffsschrift (Concept of Writing), He developed first system for predicate calculus or
predicate logic.
The four primitive Frege’s notations:
Example:
2. Representing knowledge in logic
Natural language is used to express the knowledge in the form of statements. Logic enables
knowledge that can be expressed in computable form.
Logical representations help model real-world knowledge formally. The common methods
include:
Propositional Logic (PL):
The simplest knowledge representation language is Propositional logic.
Consider the statement (Proposition)
Every trailer trucks has 18 wheelers
In propositional logic the above statement can be represented as
P:
It cannot represent any details about the truck, trailer and wheels and their
interrelationships.
Subject and Predicate Logic:
The sentence must be broken down into smaller parts that can be represented separately.
Aristotle divided the sentence into two pars namely subject(What you are taking about)
and Predicate(What you are saying about)
Consider the pattern of Darii
The universal quantifier is used with implication and existential quantifier is used with
conjunction as shown below.
Choice of Predicate:
The division of sentence into subject and predicate is the first and important step., but
mare detail is needed to show how the wheels are related to the truck and how the
number 18 is related to the wheels.
The number 18 could be shown explicitely by replacing the predicate eighteenWheeler(x)
with a two place predicate that relates a vehicle x to a number n. as follows.
Logic and ontology:
Representing the Music:
The ontology for music has three predicates as shown below.
[Link] of Logic
Classical First-Order Logic (FOL): Classical FOL, created by Frege and Peirce, is the
most widely used logic system. Though they started with different approaches and
notations, their systems converged to express the same ideas. This highlights that
notational differences do not affect logical equivalence.
Variations in Logic: Logic systems differ in six key areas:
1. Syntax:
Example: Different symbols like "∃ " or "exists" may be used, but the meaning
Syntax refers to the way logic is written.
remains the same.
2. Subsets:
Some logics simplify FOL by limiting features for efficiency.
Example: Prolog uses a restricted subset of FOL to enhance speed.
3. Proof Theory:
Variations allow or restrict how proofs are constructed.
Example: Linear logic ensures every piece of information is used exactly once.
4. Model Theory:
Adjusts truth values assigned to statements.
Example: Classical FOL uses "true" or "false," while fuzzy logic uses a range
from 0 (false) to 1 (true).
5. Ontology:
Adds predefined concepts to logic for specific domains.
Example: Temporal logics include built-in rules for time.
6. Metalanguage:
Logic used to describe or modify other languages.
Example: Context-free grammar is a subset of FOL used to define
programming languages.
Different varieties of logic includes
1. Typed Logic
2. Lambda Calculus
3. Conceptual Graphs
4. Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF)
5. Modal Logic
6. Higher Order Logic
7. Meta language
1. Typed Logic:
Typed logic simplifies FOL (First Order Logic: Propositional Logic and Predicate Logic)
by labeling variables with types.
Example:
(∀x:TrailerTruck). And can be read as “ for every x of type TrailerTruck” or “ for every
The predicate TrailerTruck(x) can be modified by adding variable x to it as
TrailerTruck x”
The Darii Pattern can be expressed in Typed Logic as follows
2. Lambda Calculus:
A formal system introduced by Alonzo Church to define and evaluate functions and
relations.
Traditional way of defining function is to write an equation that has name on the left side
and definition on the right side.
The left side of the equation specifies the name of the predicate or type such as trailer
truck, and right side of the expression that defines it. The variable x, which links the two
sides is called formal parameter.
In Lambda calculus the greek letter λ (lambda) would be used to mark the formal
parameter to define functions and operations.
3. Conceptual Graphs:
A graphical representation of logical statements that eliminates variables for simplicity.
4. Knowledge Interchange Format:
[Link] Logic:
Extends predicate logic to express necessity and possibility
[Link] Order Logic:
Extends first-order logic (FOL) by allowing quantifiers to range over predicates and
relations.
[Link] Language:
