Overview
The Problem Situation
The Tentative Solution
Critical Discussion
Correspondence
Content Logic
Class Logic
Logic of Arithmetic
Logic of Physics
Conclusion
Footnotes
Bibliography
The distinction between sentences and contents poses problems that withstand obvious solutions. These problems concern the relationship between contents and sentences, the ontological status that contents assume, and the relationship between contents and facts. The assumption that sentences create contents in the same way that, for example, the physical construction of a bridge creates the possibility of crossing a river solves these problems. In short, contents are possibilities; sentences do not name contents, values, or facts; and contents are as real as other physical conditions. A correspondence in the sense of the similarity between contents and facts is mediated by certain structures—either inner images and perceptions or data sets—that are comparable to each other and that represent contents and facts. The use of different notations for names of sentences and names of contents and reinterpreting Alfred Tarski’s semantic theory of truth lead to a new program for the philosophy of logic. It is carried out in principle for propositional or content logic, class logic, and arithmetic. The distinction between rules of inference and theorems of logic is rendered redundant; higher level theorems replace rules of inference. Finally, this essay applies its new ideas to the logic of physics and provides new insights into the relationship between mathematical and physical theories. Although this essay does not confront methodological problems, its critical discussion is based on the methodological principle that empirically irrefutable philosophical theories are open to rational, critical discussion only in their logical relationship to problem situations. 1
Overview
The Problem Situation
The Tentative Solution
Critical Discussion
Correspondence
Content Logic
Class Logic
Logic of Arithmetic
Logic of Physics
Conclusion
Footnotes
Bibliography
[Download a pdf version: Contents, Sentences, and Possibilities]