Semantics II: Interpretation and Truth

Fülszöveg

MARIO BUNGE McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Treatise on Basic Philosophy - Volume 2
Semantics II: INTERPRETATION AND TRUTH
The Treatise on Basic Philosophy expounds the first philosophical synthesis to have been con-ceived after the end of what has been called the Age of Analysis. Unlike many a system in tradi-tional philosophy, Bunge's is formulated in a clear fashion and with the assistance of formai tools such as elementary modern algebra. Be-sides, it is science-oriented and its author hopes it may help understand science as well as freeing scientific research from obsolete philosophical maxims. In sum, the Treatise presents a new system of philosophy in tune with our time. The first two volumes propose a new semantical theory and, indeed, the only existing theory that elucidates and interrelates all of the key semantic concepts met with in the analysis of ordinary knowledge and science. In particular, these volumes present originál theories of reference (as distinct from extension), of intensions, of meaning, and of truths of fact. Somé use is made of elementary set-theoretic and algebraic concepts, such as those of lattice and Boolean algebra. On the other hand modal logics are not employed and model theory is dealt with only tangentially. This work constitutes the first detailed and sys-tematic treatment of the semantics of empirical knowledge (as distinct from the semantics of either mathematics or natural language).
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The present volume and its companion offer a new and unified theory of semantics. The un-orthodox system expounded herein intends to clarify and systematize the concepts of designa-tion, reference, denotation, representation, in-tension, purport, import, meaning, signification, synonymy, truth of reason, truth of fact, exten-sion, vagueness, and definite description. The növel semantic theories explicating these concepts are motivated by and applied to somé of the semantic puzzles posed by ordinary knowledge and contemporary science - in particular the problem of identifying the sense and reference of empirical theories. The books discuss many examples and contain a long bibliography.
Dr Mario Bunge has been a professor of theoreti-cal physics, and later on of philosophy, in his native Argentína and in the U.S.A. He has held visiting positions at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Texas, Temple, Delaware, Freiburg, and Aarhus, as well as at the E.T.H. in Zürich. He is currently professor of philosophy and head of the Foundations and Philosophy of Science Unit at McGill University. He has been awarded Guggenheim, Alexander von Humboldt and Ernesto Santamarina fellowships, as well as Killam grants. He has written a dozen books and edited seven volumes, one journal of philosophy and another of physics, and has founded three philosophical societies. His best known works are Causality (available in eight languages), Scientific Research (in two volumes), and Foundations of Physics. His latest publications are Philosophy of Physics and Method, Model and Matter. His most recent editorial jobs, Problems in the Foundations of Physics, Exact Philosophy: Problems, Tools, Goals, and The Methodological Unity of Science.
Audience:
Philosophers: teachers and graduate students, and scientists in the natural and social sciences. These two volumes can be used as textbooks for courses on semantics and as supplementary reading for courses on philosophy of science. Vissza