Quantifiers, Propositions and Identity

Many systems of quantified modal logic cannot be characterised by Kripke's well-known possible worlds semantic analysis. This book shows how they can be characterised by a more general 'admissible semantics', using models in which there is a restriction on which sets of worlds count as propositions. This requires a new interpretation of quantifiers that takes into account the admissibility of propositions. The author sheds new light on the celebrated Barcan Formula, whose role becomes that of legitimising the Kripkean interpretation of quantification. The theory is worked out for systems with quantifiers ranging over actual objects, and over all possibilia, and for logics with existence and identity predicates and definite descriptions. The final chapter develops a new admissible 'cover semantics' for propositional and quantified relevant logic, adapting ideas from the Kripke–Joyal semantics for intuitionistic logic in topos theory. This book is for mathematical or philosophical logicians, computer scientists and linguists.

• Carefully written with attention to motivation, this book is accessible to advanced students as well as researchers
• Provides clear explanation of the background as well as new ideas
• Introduces a new theory of 'admissible semantics' for logical systems with quantifiers
• The author's new theory of 'cover semantics' is an attractive alternative to existing semantical theories