0000000000266083
AUTHOR
Gianni Rigamonti
When Predicates Behave Badly
The main topics of this chapter are two: a discussion (at times very critical) of certain themes in Bolzano’s, Frege’s, and Wittgenstein’s work, and an analysis of some propositional attitudes. A new polarity correct–incorrect, distinct both from true–false, and from grammatical–ungrammatical, also begins to emerge.
Of Many, Many Other Things
Propositions of everyday discourse can have, unlike those of formal languages, other components over and above the predicate and the terms needed to saturate it. These components are of two very different sorts: adverbs and further individual terms. Only adverbs have already been discussed by other writers in this connection; but they are not the whole story.
An Interlude: Matters of Method
The discussion of everyday discourse developed so far makes two entirely new problems inescapable. The first is that in everyday discourse there is no algebra, either Boolean or non-Boolean, of truth values. The second is that a new polarity (conceptually) correct–incorrect, distinct both from true–false, and from grammatical–ungrammatical, becomes indispensable.
Good Old Aristotle
The first two sections reconstruct Aristotle’s syllogistics, emphasizing its structural differences from modern logic. The third and the fourth discuss the most important modern interpreter of syllogistics, Lukasiewicz.
Panel Summary: Frontiers of Human-Machine Interaction
The hot points presented to the panel were the following: What are the broader definitions of Human/Machine interaction? For example: non direct connection (using currently available computer GUI) first phase direct connection (linking sensors to the sensory system) second phase (direct connections into the Central Nervous System) What are the technologies that should be developed in order to enable each of the previous phases? What are the scientific research issues that are related to such phases? What are the possible implications of a direct human-computer link on the society? (compared to the Internet revolution?) There are several phases in Human-Machine interaction. The first, and mo…
This, and This, and That
More dependent clauses are discussed, and more surprising results emerge. The most important of these are that distinct clauses belonging to the same period can sometimes have an overlap, and that there are clauses that, though being neither interrogative nor imperative, are such that wondering about their truth value does not make sense.
What Is an Individual?
The first nine sections discuss at length the notion of individual, concluding it is not an ontological, but a linguistic one. The last three draw some very general conclusions that may well be called “metaphysical”.
Some Minimal Technical Foundations
The essentials of modern logic are introduced, with references to Bolzano, De Morgan, and Frege.