Twenty-Five Years of Logical Methodology in Poland

The anthology presents a selection of methodological writings pub lished by Polish logicians after World War 11 (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 con cerned with the semantics of empirica1languages 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.

Texte du rabat

The anthology presents a selection of methodological writings pub­ lished by Polish logicians after World War 11 (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 con­ cerned with the semantics of empirica1languages 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.

Contenu
Methodology and Metascience.- The Problem of the Rationality of Fallible Methods of Inference.- The Problem of Justifying Analytic Sentences.- Axiomatic Systems from the Methodological Point of View.- The Problem of Probabilistic Justification of Enumerative Induction.- Enumerative Induction and the Theory of Games.- On Testability in Empirical Sciences.- On the Theoretical Sense of the So-Called Observational Terms and Sentences.- The Pragmatic Foundations of Semantics.- Mathematical and Empirical Verifiability.- Meaning and Functional Reason.- On a Certain Condition of Semantic Theory of Knowledge.- On the Difference between Deductive and Non-Deductive Sciences.- On Ostensive Definitions.- The Controversy: Deductivism versus Inductivism.- Concepts and Problems in General Methodology and Methodology of the Practical Sciences.- The Foundations of a Methodological Analysis of Mill's Methods.- Semantic Representation of the Probability of Formulas in Formalized Theories.- Classification as a Kind of Distance Function. Natural Classifications.- The Physical Magnitude and Experience.- Probabilistic Definition on the Example of the Definition of Genotype.- Analytic Sentences in the Semantic System.- The Model of Empirical Sciences in the Concepts of the Creators of Marxism.- On the Empirical Meaningfulness of Sentences.- A Model-Theoretic Approach to the Problem of Interpretation of Empirical Languages.- Empirical Meaningfulness of Quantitative Statements.- The Problem of Analyticity.- A Method of Deciding between N Statistical Hypotheses.- Interpretations of the Maximum Likelihood Principle.- Two Concepts of Information.- Semantical Criteria of Empirical Meaningfulness.- Basic Concepts of Formal Methodology of Empirical Sciences.- Rational Belief, Probability and the Justification of Inductive Inference.