Carnap on Empirical Significance
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Ramsification and Inductive Inference
Forthcoming in: SYNTHESE Ramsification and Inductive Inference Panu Raatikainen Abstract. An argument, different from the Newman objection, against the view that the cognitive content of a theory is exhausted by its Ramsey sentence is reviewed. The crux of the argument is that Ramsification may ruin inductive systematization between theory and observation. The argument also has some implications concerning the issue of underdetermination. 1. Introduction Scientific realism proposes that we are justified in believing that successful theories of mature science are at least approximately true, and that the unobservable theoretical entities they postulate really exist. The standard argument in favour of this view is the so•called “no• miracles argument”: the practical and observational success of science would be miraculous if scientific theories were not at least approximately true descriptions of the world, and the theoretical objects they postulate did not exist. Then again, arguments exist which seem to undermine scientific realism, and the no•miracles argument. Most importantly, perhaps, there are arguments which lean on the actual history of science and radical theory changes therein – for example, the notorious “pessimistic meta•induction”, and also various less general arguments to the same effect. Roughly, the thesis is that many past theories in science have turned out to be to a large extent false, and their theoretical terms non•referring; therefore – it is concluded – it is not justified to expect that the theoretical entities postulated by present theories exist either (see Laudan 1981). The view known asStructural Realism has emerged over the past two decades and seems to enjoy some popularity among philosophers of science. -
Presidential Address
Empowering Philosophy Christia Mercer COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Presidential Address delivered at the one hundred sixteenth Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Philadelphia, PA, on January 10, 2020. The main goal of my presidential address in January 2020 was to show that philosophy’s past offers a means to empower its present. I hoped to encourage colleagues to make the philosophy we teach and practice more inclusive (both textually and topically) and to adopt a more public- facing engagement with our discipline. As I add these introductory remarks to my January lecture, it is June 2020 and the need to empower philosophy has never seemed more urgent. We’ve witnessed both the tragic death of George Floyd and the popular uprising of a diverse group of Americans in response to the ongoing violence against Black lives. Many white Americans—and many philosophers—have begun to realize that their inattentiveness to matters of diversity and inclusivity must now be seen as more than mere negligence. Recent demonstrations frequently contain signs that make the point succinctly: “Silence is violence.” A central claim of my January lecture was that philosophy’s status quo is no longer tenable. Even before the pandemic slashed university budgets and staff, our employers were cutting philosophy programs, enrollments were shrinking, and jobs were increasingly hard to find. Despite energetic attempts on the part of many of our colleagues to promote a more inclusive approach to our research and teaching, the depressing truth remains: -
Metaphysics Today and Tomorrow*
1 Metaphysics Today and Tomorrow* Raphaël Millière École normale supérieure, Paris – October 2011 Translated by Mark Ohm with the assistance of Leah Orth, Jon Cogburn, and Emily Beck Cogburn “By metaphysics, I do not mean those abstract considerations of certain imaginary properties, the principal use of which is to furnish the wherewithal for endless dispute to those who want to dispute. By this science I mean the general truths which can serve as principles for the particular sciences.” Malebranche Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion 1. The interminable agony of metaphysics Throughout the twentieth century, numerous philosophers sounded the death knell of metaphysics. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rudolf Carnap, Martin Heidegger, Gilbert Ryle, J. L. Austin, Jacques Derrida, Jürgen Habermas, Richard Rorty, and, henceforth, Hilary Putnam: a great many tutelary figures have extolled the rejection, the exceeding, the elimination, or the deconstruction of first philosophy. All these necrological chronicles do not have the same radiance, the same seriousness, nor the same motivations, but they all agree to dismiss the discipline, which in the past was considered “the queen of the sciences”, with a violence at times comparable to the prestige it commanded at the time of its impunity. Even today, certain philosophers hastily spread the tragic news with contempt for philosophical inquiry, as if its grave solemnity bestowed upon it some obviousness. Thus, Franco Volpi writes: ‘Grand metaphysics is dead!’ is the slogan which applies to the majority of contemporary philosophers, whether continentals or of analytic profession. They all treat metaphysics as a dead dog.1 In this way, the “path of modern thought” would declare itself vociferously “anti- metaphysical and finally post-metaphysical”. -
The Open Handbook of Formal Epistemology
THEOPENHANDBOOKOFFORMALEPISTEMOLOGY Richard Pettigrew &Jonathan Weisberg,Eds. THEOPENHANDBOOKOFFORMAL EPISTEMOLOGY Richard Pettigrew &Jonathan Weisberg,Eds. Published open access by PhilPapers, 2019 All entries copyright © their respective authors and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. LISTOFCONTRIBUTORS R. A. Briggs Stanford University Michael Caie University of Toronto Kenny Easwaran Texas A&M University Konstantin Genin University of Toronto Franz Huber University of Toronto Jason Konek University of Bristol Hanti Lin University of California, Davis Anna Mahtani London School of Economics Johanna Thoma London School of Economics Michael G. Titelbaum University of Wisconsin, Madison Sylvia Wenmackers Katholieke Universiteit Leuven iii For our teachers Overall, and ultimately, mathematical methods are necessary for philosophical progress. — Hannes Leitgeb There is no mathematical substitute for philosophy. — Saul Kripke PREFACE In formal epistemology, we use mathematical methods to explore the questions of epistemology and rational choice. What can we know? What should we believe and how strongly? How should we act based on our beliefs and values? We begin by modelling phenomena like knowledge, belief, and desire using mathematical machinery, just as a biologist might model the fluc- tuations of a pair of competing populations, or a physicist might model the turbulence of a fluid passing through a small aperture. Then, we ex- plore, discover, and justify the laws governing those phenomena, using the precision that mathematical machinery affords. For example, we might represent a person by the strengths of their beliefs, and we might measure these using real numbers, which we call credences. Having done this, we might ask what the norms are that govern that person when we represent them in that way. -
Rudolf Carnap Papers, 1920-1968
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7q2nb520 No online items Finding Aid for the Rudolf Carnap papers, 1920-1968 Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé UCLA Library Special Collections UCLA Library Special Collections staff Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ © 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Note Arts and Humanities --PhilosophyHistory --History, University of California --History, UC Los AngelesGeographical (By Place) --University of California --University of California Los Angeles Finding Aid for the Rudolf Carnap 1029 1 papers, 1920-1968 Finding Aid for the Rudolf Carnap papers, 1920-1968 Collection number: 1029 UCLA Library Special Collections UCLA Library Special Collections staff Los Angeles, CA Contact Information UCLA Library Special Collections staff UCLA Library Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time) Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ Processed by: UCLA Library Special Collections staff, 1998 Encoded by: Caroline Cubé Online finding aid edited by: Josh Fiala, June 2002 © 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Rudolf Carnap papers, Date (inclusive): 1920-1968 Collection number: 1029 Creator: Carnap, Rudolf, 1891-1970 Extent: 56 boxes (28 linear ft.) Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections. -
Quasi-Truth As Truth of a Ramsey Sentence
Quasi-Truth as Truth of a Ramsey Sentence Sebastian Lutz∗ Draft: 2011–08–07 Abstract I show the quasi-truth of a sentence in a partial structure to be equivalent to the truth of a specific Ramsey sentence in a structure that corresponds naturally to the partial structure. Hence quasi-truth, the core notion of the partial structures approach, can be captured in the terms of the received view on scientific theories as developed by Carnap and Hempel. I further show that a mapping is a partial homomorphism/isomorphism between two partial structures if and only if it is a homomorphism/isomorphism between their corresponding structures. It is a corollary that the partial structures approach can be expressed in first or second order model theory. Keywords: partial structure; quasi-truth; pragmatic truth; partial truth; subtruth; partial homomorphism; partial isomorphism; model theory; expansion; Ramsey sentence; received view; logical empiricism The partial structures approach is in the vanguard of the semantic view on scientific theories and models (da Costa and French 2000; Le Bihan 2011, n. 3, §5), and is one of the main reasons why the received view on scientific theories as developed by, for example, Carnap(1966) and Hempel(1958) within logical empiricism is considered inferior to the semantic view (French and Ladyman 1999). I will show that the core notion of the partial structures approach, quasi-truth, can be captured very naturally within the received view. The partial structures approach is motivated by a simple epistemological point: Most of the time, scientists do not have enough information about a domain to determine its structure with arbitrary precision. -
How to Define Theoretical Terms Author(S): David Lewis Reviewed Work(S): Source: the Journal of Philosophy, Vol
Journal of Philosophy, Inc. How to Define Theoretical Terms Author(s): David Lewis Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 67, No. 13 (Jul. 9, 1970), pp. 427-446 Published by: Journal of Philosophy, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2023861 . Accessed: 14/10/2012 20:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Journal of Philosophy, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Philosophy. http://www.jstor.org THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY VOLUME LXVII, NO. I3, JULY 9, 19-0 HOW TO DEFINE THEORETICAL TERMS M OST philosophers of science agree that, when a newly proposed scientific theory introduces new terms, we usually cannot define the new terms using only the old terms we understood beforehand. On the contrary, I contend that there is a general method for defining the newly introduced theo- retical terms. Most philosophers of science also agree that, in order to reduce one scientific theory to another, we need to posit bridge laws: new laws, independent of the reducing theory, which serve to identify phenomena described in terms of the reduced theory with phe nomena described in terms of the reducing theory. -
Epistemology Formalized
Philosophical Review Epistemology Formalized Sarah Moss University of Michigan As we often tell our undergraduates, epistemology is the study of knowl- edge. Given just this simple definition, ‘formal epistemology’ seems like a misnomer for the philosophical program inspired by Thomas Bayes and developed in the twentieth century by Ramsey (1926), de Finetti ([1937] 1993), Jeffrey (1983), and others. Bayesians articulate constraints on rational credences: synchronic constraints on what credences you may have, and diachronic constraints on how your credences must evolve. Like traditional epistemologists, Bayesians are concerned with norms governing your doxastic state. But in modeling your doxastic state, Bayes- ians do not represent what full beliefs you have.1 And so they do not have the resources to talk about which of those beliefs constitute knowledge. This paper develops a formal extension of traditional episte- mology for which ‘epistemology’ is not a misnomer.I accept the traditional claim that beliefs can constitute knowledge. But I argue for an apparently radical thesis about the doxastic states that Bayesians care about: some of these states can also constitute knowledge. For example, suppose you are playing an ordinary poker game, and you have just been dealt some mid- dling cards face down. Your justifiedly low credence that you have been Thanks to Dave Chalmers, Branden Fitelson, Allan Gibbard, John Hawthorne, Jim Joyce, Ted Sider, Jason Stanley, Seth Yalcin, and the Michigan Crop Circle for helpful comments, as well as audiences at the University of Pittsburgh, Princeton University, Rutgers Univer- sity, University of St Andrews, Syracuse University, Yale University, the 2011 Orange Beach Epistemology Workshop, and the 2011 Formal Epistemology Workshop. -
Truth and Justification in Knowledge Representation ⋆
Truth and Justification in Knowledge Representation ? Andrei Rodin1;2[0000−0002−3541−8867] and Serge Kovalyov3[0000−0001−5707−5730] 1 Institute of Philosophy RAS, 12/1 Goncharnaya Str., Moscow, 109240, Russian Federation 2 HSE, 20 Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation [email protected] https://www.hse.ru/org/persons/218712080 3 ICS RAS, 65 Profsoyuznaya street, Moscow 117997, Russian Federation [email protected] https://www.ipu.ru/node/16660 Abstract. While the traditional philosophical epistemology stresses the importance of distinguishing knowledge from true beliefs, the formalisa- tion of this distinction with standard logical means turns out to be prob- lematic. In Knowledge Representation (KR) as a Computer Science disci- pline this crucial distinction is largely neglected. A practical consequence of this neglect is that the existing KR systems store and communicate knowledge that cannot be verified and justified by users of these systems without external means. Information obtained from such systems does not qualify as knowledge in the sense of philosophical epistemology. Recent advances in the research area at the crossroad of the compu- tational mathematical logic, formal epistemology and computer science open new perspectives for an effective computational realisation of jus- tificatory procedures in KR. After exposing the problem of justification in logic, epistemology and KR, we sketch a novel framework for rep- resenting knowledge along with relevant justificatory procedures, which is based on the Homotopy Type theory (HoTT). This formal framework supports representation of both propositional knowledge, aka knowledge- that, and non-propositional knowledge, aka knowledge-how or procedu- ral knowledge. The default proof-theoretic semantics of HoTT allows for combining the two sorts of represented knowledge at the formal level by interpreting all permissible constructions as justification terms (wit- nesses) of associated propositions. -
Social Epistemology and the Project of Mapping Science
City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2015 Social Epistemology and the Project of Mapping Science Kamili Posey Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1097 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY AND THE PROJECT OF MAPPING SCIENCE BY KAMILI POSEY A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York. 2015 © 2015 KAMILI POSEY All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Nikolas Pappas ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Iakovos Vasiliou ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ Date Executive Officer Samir Chopra ______________________________________________ Linda Alcoff ______________________________________________ Robert Sinclair ______________________________________________ Supervisory Committee THE -
Analyticity, Necessity and Belief Aspects of Two-Dimensional Semantics
!"# #$%"" &'( ( )#"% * +, %- ( * %. ( %/* %0 * ( +, %. % +, % %0 ( 1 2 % ( %/ %+ ( ( %/ ( %/ ( ( 1 ( ( ( % "# 344%%4 253333 #6#787 /0.' 9'# 86' 8" /0.' 9'# 86' (#"8'# Analyticity, Necessity and Belief Aspects of two-dimensional semantics Eric Johannesson c Eric Johannesson, Stockholm 2017 ISBN print 978-91-7649-776-0 ISBN PDF 978-91-7649-777-7 Printed by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2017 Distributor: Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University Cover photo: the water at Petite Terre, Guadeloupe 2016 Contents Acknowledgments v 1 Introduction 1 2 Modal logic 7 2.1Introduction.......................... 7 2.2Basicmodallogic....................... 13 2.3Non-denotingterms..................... 21 2.4Chaptersummary...................... 23 3 Two-dimensionalism 25 3.1Introduction.......................... 25 3.2Basictemporallogic..................... 27 3.3 Adding the now operator.................. 29 3.4Addingtheactualityoperator................ 32 3.5 Descriptivism ......................... 34 3.6Theanalytic/syntheticdistinction............. 40 3.7 Descriptivist 2D-semantics .................. 42 3.8 Causal descriptivism ..................... 49 3.9Meta-semantictwo-dimensionalism............. 50 3.10Epistemictwo-dimensionalism................ 54 -
1 Introduction: Frege's Life and Work
1 Introduction: Frege’s Life and Work Biography Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was the founder of modern math- ematical logic, which he created in his first book, Conceptual Nota- tion, a Formula Language of Pure Thought Modelled upon the Formula Language of Arithmetic (Begriffsschrift, eine der arithmetischen nachge- bildete Formalsprache des reinen Denkens (1879), translated in Frege 1972). This describes a system of symbolic logic which goes far beyond the two thousand year old Aristotelian logic on which, hitherto, there had been little decisive advance. Frege was also one of the main formative influences, together with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and G. E. Moore, on the analytical school of philosophy which now dominates the English-speaking philo- sophical world. Apart from his definitive contribution to logic, his writings on the philosophy of mathematics, philosophical logic and the theory of meaning are such that no philosopher working in any of these areas today could hope to make a contribution without a thorough familiarity with Frege’s philosophy. Yet in his lifetime the significance of Frege’s work was little acknowledged. Even his work on logic met with general incomprehension and his work in philosophy was mostly unread and unappreciated. He was, however, studied by Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Rudolf Carnap and via these great figures he has eventually achieved general recognition. Frege’s life was not a personally fulfilled one (for more detailed accounts of the following see Bynum’s introduction to Frege 1972 2 Introduction: Frege’s Life and Work and Beaney’s introduction to Frege 1997).