Twenty-Five Years of Logical Methodology in Poland

Description

The anthology presents a selection of methodological writings published by Polish logicians after World War II (the first of them dated 1947). All the papers belong to what may be called Logical Methodology or Logical Theory of Science. The epithet ‘logical’ characterizes rather the general point of view than the particular methods employed by the authors. Apart from articles which make an essential use of different formal (logical and mathematical) methods, there are many which do not involve any formal apparatus whatsoever. The problems the papers deal with may be characterized as problems of the general methodology of empirical science. The papers do not consider the methodological problems of formal (mathematical) knowledge, and, as a rule, they are concerned with empirical science as a whole and not with some of its specific branches. The topics covered by the selected writings include the main issues and controversies discussed within the contemporary methodology of science. A considerable part of the anthology is concerned with the semantics of empirical languages and considers problems such as interpretation of observational and theoretical terms, analyticity, empirical meaningfulness, etc. Another group of papers deals with the problem of induction and examines various ways of its justification. Some articles discuss the nature and the status of methodology itself. The materials have been selected so as to make up a whole representative of what has been done in this field in Poland since 1945. The book comprises 33 articles by 20 authors. Almost all authors writing on logical methodology in Poland have been included. Most of the articles appear for the first time in English. They are all taken in their entirety. Front Matter....Pages I-VIII Methodology and Metascience....Pages 1-12 The Problem of the Rationality of Fallible Methods of Inference....Pages 13-30 The Problem of Justifying Analytic Sentences....Pages 31-48 Axiomatic Systems From the Methodological Point of View....Pages 49-63 The Problem of Probabilistic Justification of Enumerattve Induction....Pages 65-80 Enumerative Induction and the Theory of Games....Pages 81-91 On Testability in Empirical Sciences....Pages 93-109 On the Theoretical Sense of So-Called Observational Terms and Sentences....Pages 111-134 The Pragmatic Foundations of Semantics....Pages 135-163 Mathematical and Empirical Verifiability....Pages 165-169 Meaning and Functional Reason....Pages 171-187 On a Certain Condition of Semantic Theory of Knowledge....Pages 189-199 On the Difference Between Deductive and Non-Deductive Sciences....Pages 201-231 On Ostensive Definitions....Pages 233-260 The Controversy: Deductivism Versus Inductivism....Pages 261-278 Concepts and Problems in General Methodology and Methodology of the Practical Sciences....Pages 279-289 The Foundations of a Methodological Analysis of Mill’s Methods....Pages 291-325 Semantic Representation of the Probability of Formulas in Formalized Theories....Pages 327-340 Classification as a Kind of Distance Function. Natural Classifications....Pages 341-373 The Physical Magnitude and Experience....Pages 375-432 Probabilistic Definition on the Example of the Definition of Genotype....Pages 433-456 Analytic Sentences in the Semantic System....Pages 457-497 The Model of Empirical Sciences in the Concepts of the Creators of Marxism....Pages 499-539 On the Empirical Meaningfulness of Sentences....Pages 541-549 A Model-Theoretic Approach to the Problem of Interpretation of Empirical Languages....Pages 551-576 Empirical Meaningfulness of Quantitative Statements....Pages 577-588 The Problem of Analyticity....Pages 589-614 A Method of Deciding Between N Statistical Hypotheses....Pages 615-623 Interpretations of the Maximum Likelihood Principle....Pages 625-634 Two Concepts of Information....Pages 635-646 Semantical Criteria of Empirical Meaningfulness....Pages 647-680 Basic Concepts of Formal Methodology of Empirical Sciences....Pages 681-708 Rational Belief, Probability and the Justification of Inductive Inference....Pages 709-735