Model theory

Contemporary or modern (mathematical) logic was born at the end of the 19th century. Its origin is connected with mathematics rather than philosophy, and my article will likewise be informed by a mathematical culture although I will try make connections with philosophy and the philosophy of mathematics. Although mathematical logic emanates from a so-called Western intellectual tradition, it is now, like mathematics as a whole, a world subject with no essential national or cultural distinguishing marks. Unfortunately I am not knowledgeable about philosophical and (early) mathematical traditions in the Indian subcontinent, so will not be able to make any serious comparative analyses. Also I am not trying here to give a proper history of model theory with appropriate references, bibliography, credits etc., but rather a description of how I see the subject now, with some minor commentary on historical developments. Also I will only be able to give a hint of the main technical notions and definitions in the subject. So I will point the reader towards a few basic texts, reviews, and historical accounts of the subject, where more details and as well as a detailed bibliography can be found, such as Hodges’ textbook and history [3], [4] and Marker’s textbook [5]. Another survey [7] by myself contains more technical details than the current article, and my book [6] from 1996 contains an exhaustive technical treatment of some of the themes I will discuss, but assuming a prior