Logical Positivism and the Principle of Verification
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Logic in Action: Wittgenstein's Logical Pragmatism and the Impotence of Scepticism
This is the final, pre-publication draft. Please cite only from published paper in Philosophical Investigations 26:2 (April 2003), 125-48. LOGIC IN ACTION: WITTGENSTEIN'S LOGICAL PRAGMATISM AND THE IMPOTENCE OF SCEPTICISM DANIÈLE MOYAL-SHARROCK UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA 1. The Many Faces of Certainty: Wittgenstein's Logical Pragmatism So I am trying to say something that sounds like pragmatism. (OC 422) In his struggle to uncover the nature of our basic beliefs, Wittgenstein depicts them variously in On Certainty: he thinks of them in propositional terms, in pictorial terms and in terms of acting. As propositions, they would be of a peculiar sort – a hybrid between a logical and an empirical proposition (OC 136, 309). These are the so-called 'hinge propositions' of On Certainty (OC 341). Wittgenstein also thinks of these beliefs as forming a picture, a World-picture – or Weltbild (OC 167). This is a step in the right (nonpropositional) direction, but not the ultimate step. Wittgenstein's ultimate and crucial depiction of our basic beliefs is in terms of a know-how, an attitude, a way of acting (OC 204). Here, he treads on pragmatist ground. But can Wittgenstein be labelled a pragmatist, having himself rejected the affiliation because of its utility implication? But you aren't a pragmatist? No. For I am not saying that a proposition is true if it is useful. (RPP I, 266) Wittgenstein resists affiliation with pragmatism because he does not want his use of use to be confused with the utility use of use. For him, it is not that a proposition is true if it is useful, but that use gives the proposition its sense. -
The Social Sciences—How Scientific Are They?
31 The Social Sciences—How Scientifi c Are They? Manas Sarma or Madame Curie. That is, he social sciences are a very important and amazing in their own way. fi eld of study. A division of science, social sciences Tembrace a wide variety of topics from anthropology A better example of a social to sociology. The social sciences cover a wide range of science than law may be topics that are crucial for understanding human experience/ economics. economics behavior in groups or as individuals. is, in a word, fi nances. Economics is the study By defi nition, social science is the branch of science that deals of how money changes, the rate at which it changes, and with the human facets of the natural world (the other two how it potentially could change and the rate at which it branches of science are natural science and formal science). would. Even though economics does not deal with science Some social sciences are law, economics, and psychology, to directly, it is defi nitely equally scientifi c. About 50-60% of name a few. The social sciences have existed since the time colleges require calculus to study business or economics. of the ancient Greeks, and have evolved ever since. Over Calculus is also required in some science fi elds, like physics time, social sciences have grown and gained a big following. or chemistry. Since economics and science both require Some colleges, like Yale University, have chosen to focus calculus, economics is still a science. more on the social sciences than other subjects. The social sciences are more based on qualitative data and not as Perhaps the most scientifi c of the social sciences is black-and-white as the other sciences, so even though they psychology. -
The Epistemology of Evidence in Cognitive Neuroscience1
To appear in In R. Skipper Jr., C. Allen, R. A. Ankeny, C. F. Craver, L. Darden, G. Mikkelson, and R. Richardson (eds.), Philosophy and the Life Sciences: A Reader. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. The Epistemology of Evidence in Cognitive Neuroscience1 William Bechtel Department of Philosophy and Science Studies University of California, San Diego 1. The Epistemology of Evidence It is no secret that scientists argue. They argue about theories. But even more, they argue about the evidence for theories. Is the evidence itself trustworthy? This is a bit surprising from the perspective of traditional empiricist accounts of scientific methodology according to which the evidence for scientific theories stems from observation, especially observation with the naked eye. These accounts portray the testing of scientific theories as a matter of comparing the predictions of the theory with the data generated by these observations, which are taken to provide an objective link to reality. One lesson philosophers of science have learned in the last 40 years is that even observation with the naked eye is not as epistemically straightforward as was once assumed. What one is able to see depends upon one’s training: a novice looking through a microscope may fail to recognize the neuron and its processes (Hanson, 1958; Kuhn, 1962/1970).2 But a second lesson is only beginning to be appreciated: evidence in science is often not procured through simple observations with the naked eye, but observations mediated by complex instruments and sophisticated research techniques. What is most important, epistemically, about these techniques is that they often radically alter the phenomena under investigation. -
BRONZE AGE FORMAL SCIENCE? with Additional Remarks on the Historiography of Distant Mathematics
ROSKILDE UNIVERSITETSCENTER ROSKILDE UNIVERSITY Faggruppen for filosofi og Section for philosophy videnskabsteori and science studies BRONZE AGE FORMAL SCIENCE? With additional remarks on the historiography of distant mathematics JENS HØYRUP FILOSOFI OG VIDENSKABSTEORI PÅ ROSKILDE UNIVERSITETSCENTER 3. Række: Preprints og reprints 2003 Nr. 5 In memoriam Robert Merton 1910–2003 Revised contribution to Foundations of the Formal Sciences IV The History of the Concept of the Formal Sciences Bonn, February 14-17, 2003 I. Past understandings of mathematics .......................... 1 Aristotle and others ............................................ 2 Scribal cultures I: Middle Kingdom Egypt ........................... 4 Scribal cultures II: Old Babylonian epoch ............................ 6 Riddle collections – and a hypothesis ............................... 15 II. Understandings of past mathematics ......................... 16 Second (didactical) thoughts ...................................... 18 Bibliography .............................................. 20 The paper was prepared during a stay at the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte,Berlin. I use the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for the hospitality I received. Referee: Aksel Haaning My talk falls in two unequally long parts, each turning around a particular permutation of the same three key words:* – The first, longer and main part treats of past understandings of mathematics. – The second, shorter part takes up understandings of past mathematics. In both parts, -
Logic Model Workbook
Logic Model Workbook INNOVATION NETWORK, INC. www.innonet.org • [email protected] Logic Model Workbook Table of Contents Page Introduction - How to Use this Workbook .....................................................................2 Before You Begin .................................................................................................................3 Developing a Logic Model .................................................................................................4 Purposes of a Logic Model ............................................................................................... 5 The Logic Model’s Role in Evaluation ............................................................................ 6 Logic Model Components – Step by Step ....................................................................... 6 Problem Statement: What problem does your program address? ......................... 6 Goal: What is the overall purpose of your program? .............................................. 7 Rationale and Assumptions: What are some implicit underlying dynamics? ....8 Resources: What do you have to work with? ......................................................... 9 Activities: What will you do with your resources? ................................................ 11 Outputs: What are the tangible products of your activities? ................................. 13 Outcomes: What changes do you expect to occur as a result of your work?.......... 14 Outcomes Chain ...................................................................................... -
Truth, Rationality, and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge
....... CONJECTURES sense similar to that in which processes or things may be said to be parts of the world; that the world consists of facts in a sense in which it may be said to consist of (four dimensional) processes or of (three dimensional) things. They believe that, just as certain nouns are names of things, sentences are names of facts. And they sometimes even believe that sentences are some- thing like pictures of facts, or that they are projections of facts.7 But all this is mistaken. The fact that there is no elephant in this room is not one of the processes or parts ofthe world; nor is the fact that a hailstorm in Newfound- 10 land occurred exactIy I I I years after a tree collapsed in the New Zealand bush. Facts are something like a common product oflanguage and reality; they are reality pinned down by descriptive statements. They are like abstracts from TRUTH, RATIONALITY, AND THE a book, made in a language which is different from that of the original, and determined not only by the original book but nearly as much by the principles GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE of selection and by other methods of abstracting, and by the means of which the new language disposes. New linguistic means not only help us to describe 1. THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE: THEORIES AND PROBLEMS new kinds of facts; in a way, they even create new kinds of facts. In a certain sense, these facts obviously existed before the new means were created which I were indispensable for their description; I say, 'obviously' because a calcula- tion, for example, ofthe movements of the planet Mercury of 100 years ago, MY aim in this lecture is to stress the significance of one particular aspect of carried out today with the help of the calculus of the theory of relativity, may science-its need to grow, or, if you like, its need to progress. -
Curriculum Vitae
BAS C. VAN FRAASSEN Curriculum Vitae Last updated 3/6/2019 I. Personal and Academic History .................................................................................................................... 1 List of Degrees Earned ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 Title of Ph.D. Thesis ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 Positions held ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Invited lectures and lecture series ........................................................................................................................................ 1 List of Honors, Prizes ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Research Grants .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Non-Academic Publications ................................................................................................................................................ 5 II. Professional Activities ................................................................................................................................. -
"Utter Nonsense?" : an Examination of the Linguisitic Theories of F
W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1988 Did you say "utter nonsense?" : an examination of the linguisitic theories of F. de Saussure and Noam Chomsky R.G. Herndon Jr. College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Recommended Citation Herndon, R.G. Jr., "Did you say "utter nonsense?" : an examination of the linguisitic theories of F. de Saussure and Noam Chomsky" (1988). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 655. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/655 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Did you say "utter Nonsense?" An Examination of the Lingusi tic 'Iheories of F. de Saussure and NoamChomsky A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Linguistics and Philosophy fram the College of William and Mary in Virginia By R. G. Her'ndon, Jr. t{\ay 1'183 Accepted for: HOi\O ,S "Youwill observe the Rules of Battle, of course? the ~rute Knight remarked, putting on his helIoot too. "I always do," said the Red Knight, and they began banging awayat each other with such a fury that Alice got behirrl a tree to be out of the \vay of the blows. "I wonder, what the Rules of Battle are;." she said to herself, as she watched the fight, timidly peeping out from her hiding place. -
Philosophical Analysis on the Nature and Forms of Information—From the Perspective of Marxist Philosophy †
Proceedings Philosophical Analysis on the Nature and Forms of Information—From the Perspective of Marxist Philosophy † Mingfang Feng 1 and Liang Feng 2,* 1 School of Economics & Law, Shaanxi University of Technology, No.1, First Eastern Ring Road, Hanzhong 723001, China; [email protected] 2 School of Marxism Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No.28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China * Correspondence: [email protected] † Presented at the IS4SI 2017 Summit DIGITALISATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY, Gothenburg, Sweden, 12–16 June 2017. Published: 8 June 2017 Abstract: The aim of this research essay attempt to reveal the nature of information form the perspective of Marxist Philosophy. The nature of Information is the first question that philosophy of information science and technology research must be answered, thus the problem is still debated. According to Marxist dialectical materialism method to the essence of information has made the analysis and argumentation, points out the essence of information between what is and its internal contact things, and this contact information is presented. Due to the connection between the protean and endless things, thus produce the endless, full of beautiful things in eyes, each are not identical information. To grasp the nature of information, must pay attention to and the specific form of information and information processing, the reorganization, transmission, storage, use and so on. Keywords: information; nature; connection; philosophy of information 1. Introduction The development of information science and technology has spar ked the nature of information exploration after World War II. The question that ‘What is the nature of information?’ is always unable to avoid in information science and philosophical technology research. -
Death and Nonsense in the Poetry of George Macdonald╎s at the Back of the North Wind and Lewis Carroll╎s Alice Books
North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies Volume 30 Article 4 1-1-2011 Death and Nonsense in the Poetry of George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind and Lewis Carroll’s Alice Books Melody Green Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind Recommended Citation Green, Melody (2011) "Death and Nonsense in the Poetry of George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind and Lewis Carroll’s Alice Books," North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies: Vol. 30 , Article 4. Available at: http://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind/vol30/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Death and Nonsense in the Poetry of George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind and Lewis Carroll’s Alice Books Melody Green n The Literary Products of the George MacDonald-Lewis Carroll FriendshipI, John Docherty explains not only that MacDonald and Carroll were friends for more than 40 years, but also that they explored some of the same ideas in their texts. In “Some Linguistic Moves in the Carroll- MacDonald ‘Literary Game,’” Fernando Soto takes this even further by arguing that these two writers played linguistic games with each other, based on their understanding of the Scottish and Cheshire dialects. Meanwhile, R. -
Against Logical Form
Against logical form Zolta´n Gendler Szabo´ Conceptions of logical form are stranded between extremes. On one side are those who think the logical form of a sentence has little to do with logic; on the other, those who think it has little to do with the sentence. Most of us would prefer a conception that strikes a balance: logical form that is an objective feature of a sentence and captures its logical character. I will argue that we cannot get what we want. What are these extreme conceptions? In linguistics, logical form is typically con- ceived of as a level of representation where ambiguities have been resolved. According to one highly developed view—Chomsky’s minimalism—logical form is one of the outputs of the derivation of a sentence. The derivation begins with a set of lexical items and after initial mergers it splits into two: on one branch phonological operations are applied without semantic effect; on the other are semantic operations without phono- logical realization. At the end of the first branch is phonological form, the input to the articulatory–perceptual system; and at the end of the second is logical form, the input to the conceptual–intentional system.1 Thus conceived, logical form encompasses all and only information required for interpretation. But semantic and logical information do not fully overlap. The connectives “and” and “but” are surely not synonyms, but the difference in meaning probably does not concern logic. On the other hand, it is of utmost logical importance whether “finitely many” or “equinumerous” are logical constants even though it is hard to see how this information could be essential for their interpretation. -
Truth-Bearers and Truth Value*
Truth-Bearers and Truth Value* I. Introduction The purpose of this document is to explain the following concepts and the relationships between them: statements, propositions, and truth value. In what follows each of these will be discussed in turn. II. Language and Truth-Bearers A. Statements 1. Introduction For present purposes, we will define the term “statement” as follows. Statement: A meaningful declarative sentence.1 It is useful to make sure that the definition of “statement” is clearly understood. 2. Sentences in General To begin with, a statement is a kind of sentence. Obviously, not every string of words is a sentence. Consider: “John store.” Here we have two nouns with a period after them—there is no verb. Grammatically, this is not a sentence—it is just a collection of words with a dot after them. Consider: “If I went to the store.” This isn’t a sentence either. “I went to the store.” is a sentence. However, using the word “if” transforms this string of words into a mere clause that requires another clause to complete it. For example, the following is a sentence: “If I went to the store, I would buy milk.” This issue is not merely one of conforming to arbitrary rules. Remember, a grammatically correct sentence expresses a complete thought.2 The construction “If I went to the store.” does not do this. One wants to By Dr. Robert Tierney. This document is being used by Dr. Tierney for teaching purposes and is not intended for use or publication in any other manner. 1 More precisely, a statement is a meaningful declarative sentence-type.