Saint-Louis University - Bruxelles
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POLS1130 - Logic and formal structures in social sciences



Credits : 4

Lecturer :
Teaching assistants :
Mode of delivery :
Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory and 15 hours of exercises.

Timetable :
First term
Friday from 11:00 to 13:00 at 109 Marais 100

Language of instruction :
French

Learning outcomes :
The aims of this course are:

- to situate, in anthropological and historical perspectives, various concepts and results of the construction of mathematical thinking;
- to develop the student's ability to apply basic mathematical techniques to issues of social sciences, using a formalisation, deduction and formal language tool.
- to develop the analysis of structures which enable to understand theoretical developments in social sciences. Structure analysis being one of the major constituents of mathematics;
- to provide the students with the necessary mathematical tools to follow the subsequent courses resorting to statistical techniques and data analysis.

Prerequisites :
None

Co-requisites :
None

Course contents :
Mathematics being primarily and generally a reasoning method, they enable to analyse relations between entities at a level of abstraction, a rigor and efficiency that is not always possible with ordinary language. This course will be considered at different levels, addressing the idea of mathematics as construction of knowledge, development of a tool and analysis of structures. It will be different from other mathematics courses due to its constant interaction with social themes.

Course outline:

Chapter 1: A bit of Social Choice Theory (and an impossibility theorem)
Chapter 3: Structures and (thinking) Mathematics;
Chapter 2: Logic and valid reasoning;
Chapter 4: Shapley value in a cooperative game
Chapter 5: Matching

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Lecture and tutorials

Assessment methods and criteria :
Written examination. Calculators are prohibited.
It consists of four parts in order to cover all of the subject matter (including exercise sessions).


Recommended or required reading :
The references included here are the sources that have guided the preparation of certain parts of the course.

Balinski M., Le suffrage universel inachevé, Belin, 2004. (Surtout les pages 283-311).

Freund M., Logique et Raisonnement, Ellipse, 2011.

Gura E.-Y. and Maschler M. B., Insights into Game Theory -- An alternative mathematical experience, Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Hudry O., Votes et paradoxes~: les Èlections ne sont pas monotones !, Mathématiques et Sciences humaines / Mathematics and Social Sciences, n∞ 163, 2003, p. 9-39.

Lucas Th., Berlanger I. et De Greef I., Initiation à la logique formelle, Ed. de Boeck, 2003.

Taylor A.D. and Pacelli A.M., Mathematics and Politics -- Strategy, Voting, Power and Proof, Second Edition, Springer, 2008.

Other references are available in the course notes.

Other information :
A copy of the slides designed to be complete during the lecture, will be available.

Additional notes (incorporating more mathematical developments and readings) are also available at the reprography service.