Ebook Info
- Published: 1974
- Number of pages: 186 pages
- Format: PDF
- File Size: 3.41 MB
- Authors: Mario Bunge
Description
In this Introduction we shall sketch a profile of our field of inquiry. This is necessary because semantics is too often mistaken for lexicography and therefore dismissed as trivial, while at other times it is disparaged for being concerned with reputedly shady characters such as meaning and allegedly defunct ones like truth. Moreover our special concern, the semantics of science, is a newcomer – at least as a systematic body – and therefore in need of an introduction. l. GOAL Semantics is the field of inquiry centrally concerned with meaning and truth. It can be empirical or nonempirical. When brought to bear on concrete objects, such as a community of speakers, semantics seeks to answer problems concerning certain linguistic facts – such as disclosing the interpretation code inherent in the language or explaning the speakers’ ability or inability to utter and understand new sentences ofthe language. This kind of semantics will then be both theoretical and experimental: it will be a branch of what used to be called ‘behavioral science’.
User’s Reviews
Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:
⭐This book is on the semantics of factual (natural or social) science.There are many books on the metaphysics/ontology and the epistemology of science, but why write a book on the semantics of science?With a semantics of science we are able to answer questions such as: What are genuine referents of quantum mechanics or of the theory of evolution?How should rival scientific theories be compared? Through spotty historical remarks (Kuhn, Feyerabend) or through a semantics of science using semantic notion of referentially commensurable?The style of the book can be characterized as exact philosophy, in the sense of the application of rigorous methods and the aim of being compatible with the bulk of scientific knowledge. The style is not overly formal. The mathematical concepts that are used include set, function, lattice, Boolean algebra, ideal, filter, topological and metric space. Central philosophical concepts used include factual reference, factual sense, and factual truth.The semantics of this book are in line with that of Tarski and Carnap, though it 1) refers to factual science instead of mathematics, 2) is realist rather than nominalist, empiricist, or Fregean, and 3) has a lower degree of formalization.Interestingly, the author points out that Frege mapped predicates to truth values. Bunge instead maps arguments of the predicate into a statements. The author counts this as one miss of the great man Frege, among all his hits.It is pleasant to follow the author slowly and in detail build up his system. The book is highly recommended to friends of science and philosophy.Table of contentsChapter 1, Designation1. Symbol and Idea2. Designation3. Metaphysical ConcomitantsChapter 2, Reference1. Motivation2. The Reference Relation3. The Reference Functions4. Factual Reference5. Relevance6. ConclusionChapter 3, Representation1. Conceptual Representation2. The Representation Relation3. Modeling4. Semantic Components of a Scientific TheoryChapter 4, Intension1. Intension2. A Calculus of Intensions3. Some Relatives – Kindred and in Law4. Concluding RemarksChapter 5, Gist and Content1. Closed Contexts2. Sense as Purport and Logical Ancestry3. Sense as Import or Logical Progeny4. Full Sense5. ConclusionChapter 6-10, see Treatise on Basic Philosophy, Volume 2, Semantics II: Interpretation and Truth
⭐Mario Bunge gives us some creative solutions for the semantic problems in science. He shows that we cannot discuss scientific realism without a good theory of reference. If we believe that scientific theories talk about the world we live in, we should solve an enormous amount of semantic problems.Bunge has some interesting answers.
⭐
Keywords
Free Download Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Semantics I: Sense and Reference 1974th Edition in PDF format
Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Semantics I: Sense and Reference 1974th Edition PDF Free Download
Download Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Semantics I: Sense and Reference 1974th Edition 1974 PDF Free
Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Semantics I: Sense and Reference 1974th Edition 1974 PDF Free Download
Download Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Semantics I: Sense and Reference 1974th Edition PDF
Free Download Ebook Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Semantics I: Sense and Reference 1974th Edition