Abstract Algebraic Logic. an Introductory Textbook

Book excerpt: Abstract algebraic logic is the more general and abstract side of algebraic logic, the branch of mathematics that studies the connections between logics and their algebra-based semantics. This emerging subfield of mathematical logic consolidated since the 1980s, and is considered as the algebraic logic of the twenty-first century; as such it is increasingly becoming an indispensable tool to approach the algebraic study of any (mainly sentential) logic in a systematic way. This book is an introductory textbook on abstract algebraic logic, and takes a bottom-up approach, treating first logics with a simpler algebraic study, such as Rasiowa's implicative logics, and then guides readers, by means of successive steps of generalization and abstraction, to meet more and more complicated algebra-based semantics. An entire chapter is devoted to Blok and Pigozzi's theory of algebraizable logics, proving the main theorems and incorporating later developments by other scholars. After a chapter with the basics of the classical theory of matrices, one chapter is devoted to an in-depth exposition of the semantics of generalized matrices. There are also two more avanced chapters providing introductions to the two hierachies that organize the logical landscape according to the criteria of abstract algebraic logic, the Leibniz hierarchy and the Frege hierarchy. All throughout the book, particular care is devoted to the presentation and classification of dozens of examples of particular logics. The book is addressed to mathematicians and logicians with little or no previous exposure to algebraic logic. Some acquaintance with examples of non-classical logics is desirable in order to appreciate the extremely general theory. The book is written with students (or beginners in the field) in mind, and combines a textbook style in its main sections, including more than 400 carefully graded exercises, with a survey style in the exposition of some research directions. The book includes scattered historical notes and numerous bibliographic references.