Three semantic relations are analyzed: the relation of implication of a question by a question and a set of declarative sentences, the relation of implication of a question by a question, and the relation of strong implication of a question by a question and a set of declarative sentences. The connections between these concepts and the concepts of relative soundness, partial answerhood and presupposition are examined. The principal results are theorems about, to speak generally, epistemic reducibility of well-posed questions to (...) sequences of implied yes-no questions. (shrink)

"The importance of questions is beyond doubt. But the degree of attention paid to them in logic and linguistics is still less than they deserve." What is a question? How to represent questions in formal languages? How to model reasoning in which questions are involved? Can we prove anything by means of pure questioning? How to model goal-directed problem solving? These are the main issues of Andrzej Wi niewski's "Questions, Inferences, and Scenarios." This book offers a state-of-the-art exposition of (...) Inferential Erotetic Logic, that is, an approach to the logic of questions focused on inferences which lead to questions as conclusions. Wi niewski characterizes semantic relations which determine validity of these inferences within the framework of Minimal Erotetic Semantics, applicable to a wide range of formal languages. He elaborates in detail the concept of erotetic search scenario, a tool for modelling problem solving. Moreover, the author presents some applications of Inferential Erotetic Logic in proof theory. Andrzej Wi niewski is one of the most prominent contemporary researchers in the logic of questions. Currently, he is a full professor at the Department of Logic and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna, Poland. (shrink)

Artykuł jest próbą analizy pojęcia „wstępnego rozumienia”, i stanowi próbę odtworzenia i wyjaśnienia hermeneutyki Arendt, tzn. zrozumienia, o ile to możliwe, problemu wiedzy w sensie w jakim rozumie ją Arendt, na historycznym i filozoficznym gruncie jej myśli. Dokonanie tego zwrotu w hermeneutyce polityki Arendt, a ściślej w jej epistemologicznym aspekcie związanym z pojęciem „wstępnego rozumienia” możliwe stało się na tle odkrycia przez Heideggera „prestruktury rozumienia”.

We examine some extensions of the constructive propositional logic with strong negation in the setting of varieties of $\mathcal{N}$ -lattices. The main aim of the paper is to give a description of all pretabular, primitive and preprimitive varieties of $\mathcal{N}$ -lattices.

The linguistic studies written by Anna Wierzbicka have been an occasion for the remarks on the relationship between linguistics and philosophy and for the question whether linguistic enquiries entitle us to put forward philosophical theses. In particular, whether and to what extent we indeed learn something philosophically significant about the world (of culture) and the nature man and his mind by examining language. Defining here position as interdisciplinary, Wierzbicka draws on the studies of the relationship between language and culture, language (...) and mind (language is a mirror of the mind - Leibniz). She claims that philosophy can be made a reliable science, provided it is based on linguistics, and the results of linguistic analyses can be found at the grounds of philosophical theses. Such philosophical references are A. Wierzbicka\'s attempts to combine semantics with generativism (Chomsky). Her intention to bring about a holistic description of language through defining elementary expressions (concepts, meanings), the so-called indefinibilia (\"primitives\") can also be called philosophical in character. They suffice to define all the remaining expressions, and basic universal syntactic constructs in the form of a grammar of elementary units, i.e. the ways of combining elementary units into greater wholes. We think that Wierzbicka\'s procedure, her quest after primary elements (of language) are reducing. A. Wierzbicka\'s main idea, with regard to the relationship between language and mind, may be understood as follows: this is a Janus-faced relationship - one face (empirically accessible) is language, the other one is the mind accessible through investigations on language. Both \"faces\" (spheres) are somehow functionally \"glued together\". In fact, however, Wierzbicka speaks little about the philosophically comprehended nature of man, whereas she speaks much about linguistic varieties and similarities among people. Generally speaking, while she declares herself to be a linguist, she has a philosophical temper and ambitions to generalise, i.e. she conducts linguistic studies with an intention to arrive at philosophical theses (by examining language she wants to obtain knowledge about the world and man). She issues statements which go beyond a purely linguistic knowledge and strictly linguistic data, hence they are not made legitimate by the linguistic material itself. A. Wierzbicka does not explain in more detail her way of understanding philosophy, assuming its intuitive comprehension. From some contexts it can be deduced that she takes it to mean a worldview. Should we call some parts of her reasoning a philosophy, it is then not a realistic philosophy but subject-oriented (first-person philosophising), such that touches upon the problems of the borderline between linguistics and philosophy, more concerned with the axis language-user than language-the world. Simultaneously, it is a non-demarcated and non-autonomic philosophising, exactly within the context of science, for it takes advantage of the results of empirical sciences to pose philosophical theses. The belief that philosophy can be pursued within a linguistic context coincides with the approach of analytical philosophy with its linguistic turn. Despite her declarations to make philosophy more scientific, Wierzbicka\'s arguments on behalf of the generalised (philosophical) theses are more their illustration and explication than a decisive legitimacy. Her belief that one can find some common, primitive linguistic units (simplicia) in the form of a complete set of independent concepts for all languages of the world seems Utopian. It is difficult to do it even in deductive systems, constructed by way of the axiomatic method and with a finite set of initial expressions. (shrink)

A new type of formalization of classical first-order logic with equality is introduced on the basis of the sequent calculus. It serves to justify the claim that equality is a logical constant characterised by well-behaved rules satisfying properties usually regarded as essential. The main feature of this approach is the application of sequents built not only from formulae but also from terms. Two variants of sequent calculus are examined, a structural and a logical one. The former is defined in accordance (...) with Dos̆en’s criteria for logical constants. The latter is a standard Gentzen’s sequent calculus and satisfies Hacking’s criteria for logicality, including cut elimination. It is also shown that provided rules are harmonious in the sense advocated by Gratzl and Orlandelli. (shrink)

W kontekście wielości pojęć osoby i ich znaczenia dla sposobu organizowania przez człowieka życia jednostkowego i społecznego, sprawą kluczową jest zwrot w kierunku realistycznego pojęcia osoby. W niniejszym studium przeprowadzono krytyczną analizę kilku wybranych relacjonalnych koncepcji osoby z pozycji tomizmu egzystencjalnego. W efekcie przeprowadzonej analizy potwierdzono założoną hipotezę, iż wybrane relacjonalne koncepcje osoby mają charakter aprioryczny, jednakże tylko w odniesieniu do istoty osoby. Studium odpowiada na pytanie, dlaczego analizowane koncepcje nie wyjaśniają samej istoty realnej osoby ludzkiej, a tylko wskazują na (...) jej cechy rozpoznawcze, opisując egzystencję i drogi spełniania się osoby. In search of a realistic concept of person In the context of the multiplicity of concepts of the person and their importance for the way in which man organizes his individual and social life, a turn toward a realistic concept of the person is crucial. In this study, a critical analysis of several selected relational concepts of the person from the position of existential Thomism is carried out. As a result of the analysis, the assumed hypothesis was confirmed that the selected relational conceptions of the person are a priori, however, only with regard to the essence of the person. The study answers the question of why the analysed concepts do not explain the very essence of the real human person, but only point to its identifying features, describing the existence and ways of fulfilment of person. (shrink)

M. E. Rudin proved, under CH, that for each P-point p there exists a P-point q strictly RK-greater than p. This result was proved under ${\mathfrak {p}= \mathfrak {c}}$ by A. Blass, who also showed that each RK-increasing $ \omega $ -sequence of P-points is upper bounded by a P-point, and that there is an order embedding of the real line into the class of P-points with respect to the RK-ordering. In this paper, the results cited above are proved under (...) the assumption that $\mathfrak { b}=\mathfrak {c}$. A. Blass asked in 1973 which ordinals can be embedded in the set of P-points, and pointed out that such an ordinal cannot be greater than $ \mathfrak {c}^{+}$. In this paper it is proved, under $\mathfrak {b}=\mathfrak {c}$, that for each ordinal $\alpha < \mathfrak {c}^{+}$, there is an order embedding of $ \alpha $ into P-points. It is also proved, under $\mathfrak {b}=\mathfrak {c}$, that there is an embedding of the long line into P-points. (shrink)

The article attempts to characterize three key doctrinal controversies in the Carolingian Renaissance, namely: the disputes over the Eucharist, the so-called trina deitas, and predestination. The core of the article is an exposition of the controversy concerning predestination, whose main protagonist is Gottschalk of Orbais. The article discusses four crucial issues related to the problem: (i) the concept of God, (ii) the understanding of grace, nature and free will, (iii) the relation of foreknowledge to predestination, and (iv) the doctrine of (...) redemption, i.e., specifically the relationship betweenjustice and mercy. The article is largely an attempt at an interpretation of the texts of the epoch, mainly those of Gottschalk of Orbais and his adversary, Hincmar of Reims. The conclusions point to difficulties in the issues discussed and outline what attempts at solving this problem have taken place in the coming centuries. (shrink)

Basic theses of the article are the following: 1) Politics is inexplicable without relating it to the category of commonweal. 2) Acceptation of this category has some philosophical and ethical implications: it involves universalism, rationalism, personalistic character of participation. Finally, politics is defined as,,a wise endeavour after commonweal”.

Friendship is the foremost form of human individual relation, a demanding community of ethical courage and reciprocation of the measure of life in the ethico-existential dimension. The said relation is of autotelic nature, being no substitute for other forms of human co-existence, however it contributes to solving issues insurmountable in other forms of human relations. It opens up the human’s existence to wider dimensions of co-existence and cofeeling. In the human community a man’s development – of an individual and that (...) of a member of the society – is determined by their gradual realization of stable humanistic values, constituting the fundamental criterion of their attitude towards reality. The human closeness and reciprocating the measure of life are the basic features of friendship and community. That makes those qualities compatible both existentially and practically. The abovementioned forms of human existence have to be clearly distinguished from the passing conventional reciprocity, founded on the societally-accepted concept of “the idol of the market”. The relevance of the will to authenticity of the co-existing human beings, finding its expression in practicing equivalency in acts of reciprocity and shaping a mutually adequate measure of life, has to be strongly emphasized. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the concise description of some Natural Deduction System (ND for short) for Linear Temporal Logic. The system's distinctive feature is that it is labelled and analytical. Labels convey necessary semantic information connected with the rules for temporal functors while the analytical character of the rules lets the system work as a decision procedure. It makes it more similar to Labelled Tableau Systems than to standard Natural Deduction. In fact, our solution of linearity representation is rather (...) independent of the underlying proof method, provided that some form of (analytic) cut is admissible. We will also discuss some generalisations of the system and compare it with other formalizations of linearity. (shrink)

We provide an application of a sequent calculus framework to the formalization of definite descriptions. It is a continuation of research undertaken in [20, 22]. In the present paper a so-called free description theory is examined in the context of different kinds of free logic, including systems applied in computer science and constructive mathematics for dealing with partial functions. It is shown that the same theory in different logics may be formalised by means of different rules and gives results of (...) varying strength. For all presented calculi a constructive cut elimination is provided. (shrink)