Abstract
In the proof-theoretic semantics approach to meaning, harmony, requiring a balance between introduction-rules (I-rules) and elimination rules (E-rules) within a meaning conferring natural-deduction proof-system, is a central notion. In this paper, we consider two notions of harmony that were proposed in the literature: 1. GE-harmony, requiring a certain form of the E-rules, given the form of the I-rules. 2. Local intrinsic harmony: imposes the existence of certain transformations of derivations, known as reduction and expansion. We propose a construction of the E-rules (in GE-form) from given I-rules, and prove that the constructed rules satisfy also local intrinsic harmony. The construction is based on a classification of I-rules, and constitute an implementation to Gentzen’s (and Pawitz’) remark, that E-rules can be “read off” I-rules.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, A. R., & Belnap, N. D. Jr. (1975). Entailment (Vol. 1). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Barendregt, H. P. (1984). The lambda calculus, its syntax and semantics. North Holland.
Davies, R., & Pfenning, F. (2001). A modal analysis of staged computation. Journal of the ACM, 48(3), 555–604.
Dummett, M. (1991). The logical basis of metaphysics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Dyckhoff, R. (1987). Implementing a simple proof assistant. In Proceedings of the workshop on programming for logic teaching. Leeds Centre for Theoretical Computer Science Proceedings 23.88, 1988., Leeds, July.
Francez, N., & Dyckhoff, R. (2010). Proof-theoretic semantics for a natural language fragment. Linguistics and Philosophy, 33(6), 447–477.
Francez, N., Dyckhoff, R., & Ben-Avi, G. (2010). Proof-theoretic semantics for subsentential phrases. Studia Logica, 94, 381–401.
Gabbay, D. M. (1996). Labelled deductive systems (Vol. I). Oxford Logic Guides 35. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gentzen, G. (1935). The consistency of elementary number theory. In M. E. Szabo (Ed.), The collected papers of Gerhard Gentzen (pp. 493–565). North-Holland, Amsterdam. English translation of the 1935 paper in Mathematische Annalen (in German).
Gentzen, G. (1935). Investigations into logical deduction. In M. E. Szabo (Ed.), The collected papers of Gerhard Gentzen (pp. 68–131). North-Holland, Amsterdam. English translation of the 1935 paper in German.
Leblanc, H. (1966). Two shortcomings of natural deduction. Journal of Philosophy, 63, 29–37.
Lorentzen, P. (1955). Einfürung in die Logic und Mathematik (2nd edn). Springer, Berlin, Germany, 1969.
Pfenning, F., & Davies, R. (2001). A judgmental reconstruction of modal logic. Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, 11, 511–540.
Prawitz, D. (1971). Ideas and results in proof theory. In J. Fenstad (Ed.), Proc. 2nd Scandinavian symposium. North-Holland.
Prawitz, D. (1978). Proofs and the meaning and completeness of logical constants. In J. Hintikka, I. Niiniluoto, & E. Saarinen (Eds.), Essays in mathematical and philosophical logic (pp. 25–40). Dordrecht: Reidel.
Prior, A. N. (1960). The runabout inference-ticket. Analysis, 21, 38–39.
Read, S. (2000). Harmony and autonomy in classical logic. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 29, 123–154.
Schroeder-Heister, P. (1984). A natural extension of natural deduction. Journal of symbolic logic, 49, 1284–1300.
von Plato, J. (2001). Natural deduction with general elimination rules. Archive for Mathematical Logic, 40, 541–567.
Wadler, P. (1992). There is no substitute for Linear Logic. In 8th int. workshop on mathematical foundations of programming semantics. Oxford, UK.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Francez, N., Dyckhoff, R. A Note on Harmony. J Philos Logic 41, 613–628 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-011-9208-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-011-9208-0