Propositional logic

Propositional calculus à la Hilbert

Classical propositional logic may be axiomatized as a proof system à la Hilbert with the following inference rules1

  1. tautology: 𝜙 ⊢⊤
  2. explosion: ⊥ ⊢𝜙
  3. ∨-commutativity: 𝜙 ∨𝜓 ⊣⊢𝜓 ∨𝜙
  4. ∧-commutativity: 𝜙 ∧𝜓 ⊣⊢𝜓 ∧𝜙
  5. ∨-associativity: [𝜙 ∨𝜓] ∨𝛿 ⊣⊢𝜙 ∨[𝜓 ∨𝜙]
  6. ∧-associativity: [𝜙 ∧𝜓] ∧𝛿 ⊣⊢𝜙 ∧[𝜓 ∧𝜙]
  7. De Morgan's laws:
    • ¬[𝜙 ∨𝜓] ⊣⊢¬𝜙 ∧¬𝜓
    • ¬𝜙 ∨¬𝜓 ⊣⊢¬[𝜙 ∧𝜓]
  8. double negation: ¬¬𝜙 ⊣⊢𝜙
  9. LEM: ⊤ ⊢𝜙 ∨¬𝜙
  10. non-contradiction: 𝜙 ∧¬𝜙 ⊢⊥
  11. contraposition: 𝜙 ⇒𝜓 ⊣⊢¬𝜓 ⇒¬𝜙
  12. ∨-absorption
    • 𝜙 ∨(𝜙 ∧𝜓) ⊣⊢𝜙
    • 𝜙 ∨𝜙 ⊣⊢𝜙
    • ⊤ ⊢𝜙 ∨⊤
    • 𝜙 ∨⊥ ⊣⊢𝜙
  13. ∧-absorption
    • 𝜙 ∧(𝜙 ∨𝜓) ⊣⊢𝜙
    • 𝜙 ∧𝜙 ⊣⊢𝜙
    • ⊤ ⊢𝜙 ∧⊤
    • 𝜙 ∧⊥ ⊢⊥

All of these are justified by the Truth table semantics for classical propositional logic.


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Footnotes

  1. Of course there are many choices as to which logical equivalences are considered “primary.” Those listed here are those students are allowed to use in CITS2211. ↩