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David J. Pym

Publications and source records attributed to David J. Pym.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Inferentialist Game Semantics (Extended Abstract)

Game semantics is an elegant approach to the formal semantics of reasoning and computation that grounds model-theoretic concepts of truth and validity in game-theoretic concepts that emphasize the dynamic and interactive aspects of logical reasoning. In Hyland-Ong games, plays are traces of interactions between a player and an environment and such games provide a naturally appealing semantics for computation that is derived from proof-search in logical systems. Such a semantics can be seen as providing an intensional theory of meaning for systems of logic in terms of (the computation of) proofs. In logic, an intensional theory of meaning for systems of logic is offered by proof-theoretic semantics; in particular, by base-extension semantics (B-eS), in which the model-theoretic interpretation of atomic propositions in a satisfaction relation is replaced by a validity relation which uses provability in `bases' of atomic rules. We establish a fully abstract correlation between B-eS and Hyland-Ong game semantics, employing techniques similar to those used by Sandqvist to give a sound and complete B-eS for intuitionistic propositional logic. We illustrate our semantics through the example of 4x4 Sudoku.

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arXiv2025

Proof-theoretic Semantics for Second-order Logic

We develop a proof-theoretic semantics (P-tS) for second-order logic (S-oL), providing an inferentialist alternative to both full and Henkin model-theoretic interpretations. Our approach is grounded in base-extension semantics (B-eS), a framework in which meaning is determined by inferential roles relative to atomic systems -- collections of rules that encode an agent's pre-logical inferential commitments. We show how both classical and intuitionistic versions of S-oL emerge from this set-up by varying the class of atomic systems. These systems yield modular soundness and completeness results for corresponding Hilbert-style calculi, which we prove equivalent to Henkin's account of S-oL. In doing so, we reframe second-order quantification as systematic substitution rather than set-theoretic commitment, thereby offering a philosophically lightweight yet expressive semantics for higher-order logic. This work contributes to the broader programme of grounding logical meaning in use rather than reference and offers a new lens on the foundations of logic and mathematics.

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arXiv2025

Semantic Foundations of Reductive Reasoning

The development of logic has largely been through the 'deductive' paradigm: conclusions are inferred from established premisses. However, the use of logic in the context of both human and machine reasoning is typically through the dual 'reductive' perspective: collections of sufficient premisses are generated from putative conclusions. We call this paradigm, 'reductive logic'. This expression of logic encompass as diverse reasoning activities as proving a formula in a formal system to seeking to meet a friend before noon on Saturday. This paper is a semantical analysis of reductive logic. In particular, we provide mathematical foundations for representing and reasoning about 'reduction operators'. Heuristically, reduction operators may be thought of as `backwards' inference rules. In this paper, we address their mathematical representation, how they are used in the context of reductive reasoning, and, crucially, what makes them 'valid'.

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arXiv2024

Inferentialist Resource Semantics

In systems modelling, a 'system' typically comprises located resources relative to which processes execute. One important use of logic in informatics is in modelling such systems for the purpose of reasoning (perhaps automated) about their behaviour and properties. To this end, one requires an interpretation of logical formulae in terms of the resources and states of the system; such an interpretation is called a 'resource semantics' of the logic. This paper shows how inferentialism -- the view that meaning is given in terms of inferential behaviour -- enables a versatile and expressive framework for resource semantics. Specifically, how inferentialism seamlessly incorporates the assertion-based approach of the logic of Bunched Implications, foundational in program verification (e.g., as the basis of Separation Logic), and the renowned number-of-uses reading of Linear Logic. This integration enables reasoning about shared and separated resources in intuitive and familiar ways, as well as about the composition and interfacing of system components.

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arXiv2024

Inferentialist Public Announcement Logic: Base-extension Semantics

Proof-theoretic semantics, and base-extension semantics in particular, can be seen as a logical realization of inferentialism, in which the meaning of expressions is understood through their use. We present a base-extension semantics for public announcement logic, building on earlier work giving a base-extension semantics for the modal logic $S5$, which in turn builds on earlier such work for $K$, $KT$, $K4$, and $S4$. These analyses rely on a notion of `modal relation' on bases. The main difficulty in extending the existing B-eS for $S5$ to public announcement logic is to account announcements of the form $[\psi]\phi$, which, in this setting, update the modal relations on bases. We provide a detailed analysis of two classical examples, namely the three-player card game and the muddy children puzzle. These examples illustrate how the inferentialist perspective requires fully explicit information about the state of the participating agents.

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arXiv2024

Proof-theoretic Semantics for Intuitionistic Multiplicative Linear Logic (Extended Abstract)

This work is the first exploration of proof-theoretic semantics for a substructural logic. It focuses on the base-extension semantics (B-eS) for intuitionistic multiplicative linear logic (IMLL). The starting point is a review of Sandqvist's B-eS for intuitionistic propositional logic (IPL), for which we propose an alternative treatment of conjunction that takes the form of the generalized elimination rule for the connective. The resulting semantics is shown to be sound and complete. This motivates our main contribution, a B-eS for IMLL, in which the definitions of the logical constants all take the form of their elimination rule and for which soundness and completeness are established.

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arXiv2024

Proof-theoretic Semantics for the Logic of Bunched Implications

The logic of bunched implications (BI) can be seen as the free combination of intuitionistic propositional logic (IPL) and intuitionistic multiplicative linear logic (IMLL). We present here a base-extension semantics (B-eS) for BI in the spirit of Sandqvist's B-eS for IPL, deferring an analysis of proof-theoretic validity, in the sense of Dummett and Prawitz, to another occasion. Essential to BI's formulation in proof-theoretic terms is the concept of a `bunch' of hypotheses that is familiar from relevance logic. Bunches amount to trees whose internal vertices are labelled with either the IMLL context-former or the IPL context-former and whose leaves are labelled with propositions or units for the context-formers. This structure presents significant technical challenges in setting up a base-extension semantics for BI. Our approach starts from the B-eS for IPL and the B-eS for IMLL and provides a systematic combination. Such a combination requires that base rules carry bunched structure, and so requires a more complex notion of derivability in a base and a correspondingly richer notion of support in a base. One reason why BI is a substructural logic of interest is that the `resource interpretation' of its semantics, given in terms of sharing and separation and which gives rise to Separation Logic in the field of program verification, is quite distinct from the `number-of-uses' reading of the propositions of linear logic as resources. This resource reading of BI provides useful intuitions in the formulation of its proof-theoretic semantics. We discuss a simple example of the use of the given B-eS in security modelling.

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arXiv2024

From Proof-theoretic Validity to Base-extension Semantics for Intuitionistic Propositional Logic

Proof-theoretic semantics (P-tS) is the approach to meaning in logic based on 'proof' (as opposed to 'truth'). There are two major approaches to P-tS: proof-theoretic validity (P-tV) and base-extension semantics (B-eS). The former is a semantics of arguments, and the latter is a semantics of logical constants. This paper demonstrates that the B-eS for intuitionistic propositional logic (IPL) encapsulates the declarative content of a version of P-tV based on the elimination rules. This explicates how the B-eS for IPL works, and shows the completeness of this version of P-tV.

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arXiv2024

A Note on an Inferentialist Approach to Resource Semantics

A central concept within informatics is in modelling such systems for the purpose of reasoning (perhaps automated) about their behaviour and properties. To this end, one requires an interpretation of logical formulae in terms of the resources and states of the system; such an interpretation is called a 'resource semantics' of the logic. This paper shows how 'inferentialism' -- the view that meaning is given in terms of inferential behaviour -- enables a versatile and expressive framework for resource semantics. Specifically, how inferentialism seamlessly incorporates the assertion-based approach of the logic of Bunched Implications, foundational in program verification (e.g., as the basis of Separation Logic), and the renowned number-of-uses reading of Linear Logic. This integration enables reasoning about shared and separated resources in intuitive and familiar ways, as well as about the composition and interfacing of system components.

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arXiv2024

Base-extension Semantics for Modal Logic

In proof-theoretic semantics, meaning is based on inference. It may seen as the mathematical expression of the inferentialist interpretation of logic. Much recent work has focused on base-extension semantics, in which the validity of formulas is given by an inductive definition generated by provability in a `base' of atomic rules. Base-extension semantics for classical and intuitionistic propositional logic have been explored by several authors. In this paper, we develop base-extension semantics for the classical propositional modal systems K, KT , K4, and S4, with $\square$ as the primary modal operator. We establish appropriate soundness and completeness theorems and establish the duality between $\square$ and a natural presentation of $\lozenge$. We also show that our semantics is in its current form not complete with respect to euclidean modal logics. Our formulation makes essential use of relational structures on bases.

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arXiv2023

Defining Logical Systems via Algebraic Constraints on Proofs

We present a comprehensive programme analysing the decomposition of proof systems for non-classical logics into proof systems for other logics, especially classical logic, using an algebra of constraints. That is, one recovers a proof system for a target logic by enriching a proof system for another, typically simpler, logic with an algebra of constraints that act as correctness conditions on the latter to capture the former; for example, one may use Boolean algebra to give constraints in a sequent calculus for classical propositional logic to produce a sequent calculus for intuitionistic propositional logic. The idea behind such forms of reduction is to obtain a tool for uniform and modular treatment of proof theory and provide a bridge between semantics logics and their proof theory. The article discusses the theoretical background of the project and provides several illustrations of its work in the field of intuitionistic and modal logics. The results include the following: a uniform treatment of modular and cut-free proof systems for a large class of propositional logics; a general criterion for a novel approach to soundness and completeness of a logic with respect to a model-theoretic semantics; and, a case study deriving a model-theoretic semantics from a proof-theoretic specification of a logic.

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arXiv2023

Definite Formulae, Negation-as-Failure, and the Base-extension Semantics of Intuitionistic Propositional Logic

Proof-theoretic semantics (P-tS) is the paradigm of semantics in which meaning in logic is based on proof (as opposed to truth). A particular instance of P-tS for intuitionistic propositional logic (IPL) is its base-extension semantics (B-eS). This semantics is given by a relation called support, explaining the meaning of the logical constants, which is parameterized by systems of rules called bases that provide the semantics of atomic propositions. In this paper, we interpret bases as collections of definite formulae and use the operational view of the latter as provided by uniform proof-search -- the proof-theoretic foundation of logic programming (LP) -- to establish the completeness of IPL for the B-eS. This perspective allows negation, a subtle issue in P-tS, to be understood in terms of the negation-as-failure protocol in LP. Specifically, while the denial of a proposition is traditionally understood as the assertion of its negation, in B-eS we may understand the denial of a proposition as the failure to find a proof of it. In this way, assertion and denial are both prime concepts in P-tS.

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arXiv2023

Proof-theoretic Semantics and Tactical Proof

The use of logical systems for problem-solving may be as diverse as in proving theorems in mathematics or in figuring out how to meet up with a friend. In either case, the problem solving activity is captured by the search for an \emph{argument}, broadly conceived as a certificate for a solution to the problem. Crucially, for such a certificate to be a solution, it has be \emph{valid}, and what makes it valid is that they are well-constructed according to a notion of inference for the underlying logical system. We provide a general framework uniformly describing the use of logic as a mathematics of reasoning in the above sense. We use proof-theoretic validity in the Dummett-Prawitz tradition to define validity of arguments, and use the theory of tactical proof to relate arguments, inference, and search.

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arXiv2022

Semantical Analysis of the Logic of Bunched Implications

We give a novel approach to proving soundness and completeness for a logic (henceforth: the object-logic) that bypasses truth-in-a-model to work directly with validity. Instead of working with specific worlds in specific models, we reason with eigenworlds (i.e., generic representatives of worlds) in an arbitrary model. This reasoning is captured by a sequent calculus for a meta-logic (in this case, first-order classical logic) expressive enough to capture the semantics of the object-logic. Essentially, one has a calculus of validity for the object-logic. The method proceeds through the perspective of reductive logic (as opposed to the more traditional paradigm of deductive logic), using the space of reductions as a medium for showing the behavioural equivalence of reduction in the sequent calculus for the object-logic and in the validity calculus. Rather than study the technique in general, we illustrate it for the logic of Bunched Implications (BI), thus IPL and MILL (without negation) are also treated. Intuitively, BI is the free combination of intuitionistic propositional logic and multiplicative intuitionistic linear logic, which renders its meta-theory is quite complex. The literature on BI contains many similar, but ultimately different, algebraic structures and satisfaction relations that either capture only fragments of the logic (albeit large ones) or have complex clauses for certain connectives (e.g., Beth's clause for disjunction instead of Kripke's). It is this complexity that motivates us to use BI as a case-study for this approach to semantics.

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