A sequent- or tableau-style system for Lewis's counterfactual logic VC (Q1203766)

In the 70's Stalnaker and Lewis presented logics for the counterfactual, VCS and VC, respectively. In 1983 the reviewer gave a tableaux-based proof system for these logics, making use of some (notational) simplifications introduced by Smullyan [J. Symb. Logic 48, 1-20 (1983; Zbl 0527.03005)]. This enabled him to give constructive completeness proofs in the sense that either a tableau-proof is found or a counterexample. The author discovered that the reviewer's system for VC is incorrect, exhibiting a VC-valid formula which is not provable in the system. In this paper he presents a new tableaux-based proof system for VC, for which he gives a soundness and a completeness proof. The proof system for VC turns out to be considerably more complex than the one for VCS.