Alfred Teitelbaum

From The Semantic Conception of Truth . . etc. 1944 by A. Tarski

It is perhaps worth while saying that semantics as it is conceived in this paper (and in former papers of the author) is a sober and modest discipline which has no pretensions of being a universal patent-medicine for all the ills and diseases of mankind, whether imaginary or real. You will not find in semantics any remedy for decayed teeth or illusions of grandeur or class conflicts. Nor is semantics a device for establishing that everyone except the speaker and his friends is speaking nonsense.

From antiquity to the present day the concepts of semantics have played an important role in the discussions of philosophers, logicians, and philologists. Nevertheless, these concepts have been treated for a long time with a certain amount of suspicion. From a historical standpoint, this suspicion is to be regarded as completely justified. For although the meaning of semantic concepts as they are used in everyday language seems to be rather clear and understandable, still all attempts to characterize this meaning in a general and exact way miscarried. And what is worse, various arguments in which these concepts were involved, and which seemed otherwise quite correct and based upon apparently obvious premises, led frequently to paradoxes and antinomies. It is sufficient to mention here the antinomy of the liar, Richard's antinomy of definability (by means of a finite number of words), and Grelling-Nelson's antinomy of heterological terms.9

I believe that the method which is outlined in this paper helps to overcome these difficulties and assures the possibility of a consistent use of semantic concepts.

---

 

Only the books and articles actually referred to in the paper will be listed here. Aristotle. [1]. Metaphysica. (Works, vol. VIII.) English translation by W. D. Ross. Oxford, 1908. Carnap, R. [1]. Logical Syntax of Language. London and New York, 1937. Carnap, R. [2]. Introduction to Semantics. Cambridge, 1942. G�del, K. [1]. "�ber formal unentscheidbare S�tze der Principia Mathematica und verwandter Systeme, I." Monatshefte f�r Mathematik und Physik, vol. XXXVIII, 1931, pp. 173-198. G�del, K. [2]. "�ber die L�nge von Beweisen." Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums, vol. VII, 1936, pp. 23-24. Gonseth, F. [1]. "Le Congr�s Descartes. Questions de Philosophie scientifique." Revue thomiste, vol. XLIV, 1938, pp. 183-193. Grelling, K., and Nelson, L. [1]. "Bemerkungen zu den Paradoxien von Russell und Burali-Forti." Abhandlungen der Fries'schen Schule, vol. II (new series), 1908, pp. 301-334. Hofstadter, A. [1]. "On Semantic Problems." The Journal of Philosophy, vol. XXXV, 1938, pp. 225-232. Hilbert, D., and Bernays, P. [1]. Grundlagen der Mathematik. 2 vols. Berlin, 1934-1939. Juhos, B. von.[1]. "The Truth of Empirical Statements." Analysis, vol. IV, 1937, pp. 65-70. Kokoszynska, M. [1]. "�ber den absoluten Wahrheitsbegriff und einige andere semantische Begriffe." Erkenntnis, vol. VI, 1936, pp. 143-165. Kokoszynska, M. [2]. "Syntax, Semantik und Wissenschaftslogik." Actes du Congr�s International de Philosophie Scientifique, vol. III, Paris, 1936, pp. 9-14. Kotarbinski, T. [1]. Elementy teorji poznania, logiki formalnej i metodologji nauk. (Elements of Epistemology, Formal Logic, and the Methodology of Sciences, in Polish.) Lwow, 1929. Kotarbinski, T. [2]. "W sprawie pojecia prawdy." ("Concerning the Concept of Truth," in Polish.) Przeglad filozoficzny, vol. XXXVII, pp. 85-91. Lindenbaum, A., and Tarski, A. [1]. "�ber die Beschr�nktheit der Ausdrucksmittel deduktiver Theorien." Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums, vol. VII, 1936, pp. 15-23. Nagel, E. [1]. Review of Hofstadter [1]. The Journal of Symbolic Logic, vol. III, 1938, p. 90. Nagel, E. [2]. Review of Carnap [2]. The Journal of Philosophy, vol. XXXIX, 1942, pp. 468-473. Ness, A. [1]. " 'Truth' As Conceived by Those Who Are Not Professional Philosophers." Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II. Hist. Filos. Klasse, vol. IV, Oslo, 1938. Neurath, 0. [1]. "Erster Internationaler Kongress f�r Einheit der Wissenschaft in Paris 1936." Erkenntnis, vol. V, 1935, pp. 377-406. Russell, B. [1]. An Inquiry Into Meaning and Truth. New York, 1940. Scholz, H. [1]. Review of Studia philosophica, vol. I. Deutsche Literaturzeitung, vol. LVIII, 1937, pp. 1914-1917. Tarski, A. [1]. "Sur les ensembles d�finissables de nombres r�els. I." Fundamenta mathematicae, vol, XVII, 1911, pp, 210-239. Tarski, A. [2]. "Der Wahrheitsbegriff in den formalisierten Sprachen." (German translation of a book in Polish, 1933.) Studia philosophica, vol. I, 1935, pp. 261-405. Tarski, A. [3]. "Grundlegung der wissenschaftlichen Semantik." Actes du Congr�s International de Philosophie Scientifique, vol. III, Paris, 1936, pp. 1-8. Tarski, A. [4]. "�ber den Begriff der logischen Folgerung." Actes du Congr�s International de Philosophie Scientifique, vol. VII, Paris, 1937, pp. 1-11. Tarski, A. [5]. "On Undecidable Statements in Enlarged Systems of Logic and the Concept of Truth." The Journal of Symbolic Logic, vol. IV, 1939, pp. 105-112. Tarski, A. [6]. Introduction to Logic. New York, 1941. Weinberg, J. [1]. Review of Studia Philosophica, vol. I. The Philosophical Review, vol. XLVII, pp. 70-77. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Bibliographic

Author Tarski, Alfred. Title Poj�cie prawdy w j�zykach nauk dedukcyjnych. Publisher Warszawa, Nak�ʾ Tow. Naukowego Warszawskiego, 1933. Description vii, 116 p. 24 cm. Series Prace Towarzsystwa Naukowego Warszawdzia� III. Nauk Matematyczno-Fizycznych. Prace,nr. 34 Series Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie.Wydzia� III. Nauk Matemayczno-Fizycznych.Prace,nr. 34. Note Title also in French. Note Bibliography: p. [v]-vii.

Author : Alfred Tarski 'Der Wahrheitsbegriff in den formalisierten Sprachen', [German translation of Pojecie prawdy etc. ('concept of truth etc.'] Studia Philosophica 1 (1936) (reprint dated 1935).
[ source : McCall 1967 ]

Author : A. Tarski, Grundlegung der wissenschaftlichen Semantik, Actes du Congrès International de Philosophie Scientifique, Paris, 1936.
[ source : McCall 1967 ]

Author Tarski, Alfred. Title O logice matematycznej i metodzie dedukcyjnej. Publisher Lw�w [1936] Description 167 p. 20 cm. Series Bibljoteczka matematyczna,3-5

Author Tarski, Alfred. Title Einf�hrung in die mathematische logik und in die methodologie der mathematik, von Alfred Tarski. Publisher Wien, J. Springer, 1937. Description x, 166 p. 22 cm. Note "Literaturangaben": p. 165-166. Language German