Essays in structural proof theory

The three chapters that constitute this book bear a common denominator in being focused on the relationship between structural properties of two prominent formalizations of logical deduction: sequent calculus and natural deduction. This relation imposed itself as one of the key topics of Structural Proof Theory since its very emergence, by proving to be so pregnant with significance that it results impossible to ignore it without failing to grasp the essential meaning of many features of one or the other of the two calculi. Far from being intended as giving a panoramic of this broad subject, this book will present instead some formal results that to this panoramic add further interesting details and - it is to be stressed - despite their distinguishing formal character, philosophically interesting details. Laura Tesconi (Lucca, 1972) has got a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pisa, where she presently conducts her research in Logic at the Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere .