Definition:Natural Deduction

Definition
Natural deduction is a technique for deducing valid sequents from other valid sequents by applying precisely defined proof rules, each of which themselves are either "self-evident" axioms or themselves derived from other valid sequents, by a technique called logical inference.

Proof Rule
The following rules are often treated as the axioms of PropLog. Some of them are "obvious", but they still need to be stated formally. Others are more subtle.

This is not the only valid analysis of this subject. There are other systems which use other proof rules, but these ones are straightforward and are easy to get to grips with. It needs to be pointed out that the axioms described in this section do not constitute a minimal set by any means. However, the fewer the axioms, the more complicated the arguments are, and the more difficult they are to establish the truth of them.

Also note that premises of an argument are considered to be assumptions themselves.

Also known as
This technique is seen under various less precise names, for example decision procedure or decision method.

Some sources call it the axiomatic method.

Also see
Certain schools of logic have investigated the situation of what happens when certain of the above proof rules (and their equivalents) are disallowed:


 * Johansson's Minimal Logic disallows the and the.


 * Intuitionistic Propositional Logic disallows the.


 * Classical Propositional Logic is the school of propositional logic which allows all the above rules.