Fanning the Flames of Reason: A Personal View of Logic

Modern logic has the tools for becoming a broad science of reasoning and other information directed behavior that plays an important role in connecting the humanities, exact sciences and social sciences at the university, and which is part of the bedrock of our information society. This paper is a revised version of a valedictory lecture delivered on 26 September 2014 as a University Professor of Pure and Applied Logic in the main auditorium of the University of Amsterdam. It traces the history of modern logic, illustrates the emergence of new trends in logic and agency, and discusses the most important future challenges facing it.