I am a retired computer professional with a degree in philosophy. My interest in ancient philosophy led to my study of Greek and Latin as an undergrad. Also my philosophy degree required logic. Since college I have had two hobbies, Latin and Logic. I have a passion for both these subjects and look forward to tutoring you in them.

I was invited to teach logic as an undergrad and I have spent 35 years on and off working on a side project, an Introductory Latin textbook.

Latin:

First a quick overview.

I specialize in the Cambridge Latin Course and Wheelock's Latin.

I have been working with the Cambridge series for over 35 years, and Wheelock for over 15.

I can assist in all translations derived from these texts.

I teach classical pronunciation as outlined in Wheelock.

The reason why I use two different courses?

The separate courses are inherently complimentary. The first three units of the Cambridge course are artificial Latin designed to develop vocabulary and working sense of the language, but not derived directly from classical Latin passages. Further it is not rigorous in grammar although grammatical topics are mentioned and used in Latin to English translation exercises. Wheelock, on the other hand, concentrates on passages of ancient authors and is classically focused. It concentrates on grammatical paradigms. Although early passages are adapted for the student, more direct passages of classical Latin are covered over the length of the course.

Logic:

Confused about logic systems? I can help!

I tutor modern symbolic logic, limited to propositional / statement / sentential logic (these names are equivalent).

Classical Aristotelian, and symbolic single and multiple predicate logic are not included.

Modern logic is still new in that various authors tend to do things differently, all to the same end but these differences can be confusing. I have worked extensively with these different systems.

I can help make something like this:

{[(p & q) v r] & [~p v (~q & r)]}

make sense. (Your text may have different connective symbols, but I've worked with the various notations).

*** If you think I can help? ***

The remainder of this profile is technical in nature. It goes into detail on what specifically I tutor. Reading further only makes sense if you, or a student you are helping, are studying non conversational, classical Latin or propositional / statement / sentential symbolic logic.

Latin is described first, logic second. Find the topic you are interested in and read what is pertinent to you. The details are extensive and are, for example, useless to the Latin student if reading the logic section, or useless to the logic student if reading the Latin section. Though lengthy, the descriptions are general in nature and list things that are often areas of difficulty for a student. However this is not an exhaustive list. If several of the items are pertinent to a student I can help them.

I am looking forward to working with you if you find that I meet your tutoring needs.

***** LATIN ******

The Wheelock Latin Course provides an overview of each chapter in the text itself and requires no summary.

Cambridge Latin Course:

I am an expert in Units I, II, and IIIA, (the first half of Unit III) .

I can assist in all translations derived from the texts.

Grammar:

I can help clarify and teach the grammar and underlying linguistic concepts for Units I, II, IIIA

The following IS an exhaustive list of what I tutor by chapter in Unit I. The student should recognize what is giving them trouble while they follow the text. If you are not clear on the grammar, I reference the chapter numbers from the text in the description.

Unit I: (by chapter)

1. The order of 'est' sentences and simple declarative sentences.

2. Nominative and accusative cases. Subject and direct object. Verbs in present tense, indicative mood, all in the singular.

3. 1st and 2nd declension nominative and accusative (gender not discussed).

4. 1st and 2nd person pronouns, 1st and 2nd person verbs, singular, indicative, present. (conjugations not identified). Introduction of question words 'quis?', 'quid?', 'ubi?', 'cu'r?'.

5. Plural nominative nouns and plural indicative present verbs.

6. Verbs in the imperfect and perfect tense, singular and plural.

7. How verb form indicates person and number without a subject. Other common forms of the perfect tense. Use of 'num' for questions expecting negative responses.

8. Accusative plural. Review of 1st, 2nd and 3rd declensions nominative and accusative, singular and plural. Introduction to superlatives.

9. Introduction of the dative case as used in indirect objects. Forms of the dative, singular and plural, of the first three declensions. Form of 'I' and 'you' (singular) pronouns in the nominative, accusative and dative cases.

10. Forms of 'we' and 'you' (plural) pronouns in the nominative case. Complete present tense of 'sum'. Comparatives. Use of '-ne' to ask questions.

11. Further examples of the dative case. Introduction of dative forms of the pronouns 'we' and 'you' (plural). Review of question forms.

12. Imperfect and perfect tenses in sentences with 'I', 'you' (sing. and pl.) and 'we'. Imperfect conjugation of 'sum': 'eram', 'eras', 'erat', etc.

If you made it this far, these are the grammatical concepts I teach in Unit I.

I have the same degree of familiarity with Units II and IIIA.

***** Logic *****

If you have any of the following questions, I can help:

Concepts:

What is logic? What is 'truth'? What is syntax? What is semantics? What is a 'premise'? What is a 'conclusion'? What is an artificial language? What is a truth function? What is a logical connective? What is validity? What is the difference between a valid argument and a sound argument?
What is trivial validity? What is a logical truth? What is a logical falsehood? What is meant by consistency and inconsistency? What is a theorem of logic? What is a metatheorem? What is use / mention?

What are logical connectives and how are they interpreted?

Logical connectives :

First a side note: if your text looks different from the examples below, here is the reason why. This is for clarity and may be skipped over...

(下面的例子使用箭头符号的有限公司nditional and biconditional, '->' for AND, and '~' for NOT. Horse shoe, triple bar and inverse wedge can not be reproduced in this profile. Copi dot notation for AND and Quine notation for AND are relatively uncommon and are not used in the examples. One of several negation notations was chosen due to its frequent use.)

monadic:
negation: ~p (NOT p)
dyadic:
disjunction: p v q (p OR q)
conjunction: p & q (p AND q)
material conditional:
p -> q (IF p, THEN q)
biconditional:
p q (p IF AND ONLY IF q)

What is formalization?

Formalization:

How to translate from a natural language into an artificial language in propositional logic. What is an atomic statement (proposition / sentence). Depending on a given textbook propositions are also called statements or sentences ( statement logic, sentential logic)
Formalization symbols differ depending on text. I am versed in several symbolic methods.

As stated before, I can help make something like this:

{[(p & q) v r] & [~p v (~q & r)]}

make sense. Your text may have different connective symbols, but I've worked with the various notations.

Truth tables:

主要的连接是什么?什么是下属connective? How to construct a truth table. How to interpret a truth table for logical truth, logical falsehood, consistency, equivalency and validity.

Truth trees:

Again, different textbooks construct trees differently. These variations are slight but annoying.

What is a semantic interpretation? How to construct truth trees. How to decompose a logical connective to a branching or non branching tree extension. How to determine when a branch closes. What is the significance of an open tree? What is the significance of a closed tree? How to check for consistency, equivalence, logical truth, logical falsehood. How to test for a valid argument from a set of statements. What is a logical theorem?

Deductions:

Depending on your text these may be called derivations or proofs. I have worked with five deductive systems (it seems like every textbook does things differently, but to the same end) and I can truly help in this area.

What is simplification? What is addition? What is modus ponens? What is modus tollens, hypothetical syllogism, disjunctive syllogism, constructive dilemma, destructive dilemma. What are replacement rules? What are assumption rules? What is reiteration? What is indirect proof (reductio ad absurdum)?
I can answer all these questions.

I can help with different strategies and methods for completing deductions.

Finally, you are likely to have to work with elementary set theory, (if not, your text is incomplete), and I can help you in this area also.