Problems of Semantics

Ladislav Tondl's insightful investigations into the language of the sciences bear directly upon some decisive points of confrontation in modern philos ophy of science and of language itself. In the decade since his Scientific Procedures was published in English (Boston Studies 11), Dr Tondl has enlarged his original monograph of 1966 on the promise, problems and achievements of modern semantics: the main topic of his later work has been semantic information theory. A Russian translation, considerably expanded as a second edition, was published in 1975 (Moscow, Progress Publishers) with an appreciative critical commentary, in the form of a conclusion, by Professor Avenir I. Uemov of Odessa. Indeed many Soviet studies in the problems of the semantics of science show the same sort of philosophical curiosity about the relationship of meanings in scientific language to pro cedures in scientific epistemology that characterizes Tondl's work, as in the work of Mirislav Popovich (Kiev) and Vadirn Sadovsky (Moscow) and their colleagues. But we know that interest in these matters is world-wide, ranging from such classical topics as sense and denotation, empiricist reduction, vagueness and denotational opacity, to the new and equally exciting topics of the semantics of non-unique preference choices, the nuances of informational synonymity, and the semantics of a picture shape (so briefly but beautifully sketched in Tondl's dense and promising last chapter). We are pleased to have had Tondl's kind cooperation in producing this English edition, actually a third edition, of his research about semantics.

Inhalt
I. The Semantic ProblemSources and Themes.- II. The Concept of Semantics and Prerequisites for the Investigation of Semantic Problems.- 1. The Concepts of Object Language and Metalanguage.- 2. The Semantic Level of Analysis and its Relations to the Syntactic and Pragmatic Levels.- III. Semantic Concepts.- 1. Semantic Concepts and their Relations in Common Parlance.- 2. Semantic Concepts in Formalised Languages.- IV. The Semantics of Logical Concepts.- 1. Problems of L-Semantics.- 2. The Semantics of Logical Concepts on the Basis of the Concept of Interpretation.- V. Sense and Denotation.- 1. Frege's Conception of Sense and Denotation.- 2. The Theory of Descriptions.- 3. The Method of Extension and Intension.- 4. The Problem of Naming.- 5. Synonymity.- VI. The Criterion of Sense.- 1. The Formulation of the Problem.- 2. The Operationist Criterion of Sense.- 3. The Verifiability Criterion of Sense.- 4. The Translatability Criterion of Sense.- 5. Sense and the Empirical.- 6. 'Theoretical Concepts' and the Relativity of the Empirical Starting Point.- 7. Problems of Sense and Reduction Procedures.- VII. Vagueness.- 1. Vagueness and the Un-Sharpness of Boundaries.- 2. Sources of Vagueness and Ways of Analysing Vagueness.- 3. Vagueness, Ambiguity and Denotational Opacity.- VIII. Semantics and Some Problems of Ontology.- 1. Semantics and Ontic Decision.- 2. Nominalism, Platonism and Semantics.- 3. Analytical and Synthetic Aspects in the Language of Science.- IX. An Outline of the Evaluation of the Results of Scientific Activity in Terms of Semantic Information.- 1. The Scope for Evaluating Scientific Results.- 2. Brillouin's Attempt at an Informational Evaluation of Scientific Laws.- 3. Linguistic Devices in Tasks of the Systematising Type.- 4. The Concept of'Decision Base' and the Evaluation of a Decision Base.- 5. The Relevance of A Posteriori Data.- 6. Evaluation of the Goal Complex and the Concept of 'Epistemic Gain'.- X. The Semantics of Preference Attitudes.- 1. The Role of Preference and Preference Ordering.- 2. The Comparability Principle as a Presupposition for the Construction of a Preference System.- 3. Preferences of Things and Preferences of States of Affairs.- 4. Preference 'Ceteris Paribus'.- 5. The Concept of 'Preferable States of Affairs' as a Qualitative Concept.- 6. Preference as a Propositional Attitude.- Conclusions.- XI. The Problem of Informational Synonymity.- 1. The Traditional (Leibnizian) Criterion of Identity and the Problem of Semantic Identification.- 2. The 'Salva Veritate' Criterion.- 3. The Criterion of 'Salva Relatione' and the Concept of 'Informational Synonymity'.- 4. Informational Relevance and the Concept of 'Strict Informational Synonymity'.- XII. An Outline of the Semantic Evaluation of Graphic Communication.- 1. Introductory Remarks.- 2. Graphic Communication.- 3. The Semantics of a Picture Shape.- 4. Informational Synonymity and the Informational Evaluation of a Picture Shape.- 5. Informational Synonymity and the Time Factor.- Notes.- References.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.