A generalized Wittgensteinian semantics for propositional languages is presented, based on a lattice of elementary situations. Of these, maximal ones are possible worlds, constituting a logical space; minimal ones are logical atoms, partitioned into its dimensions. A verifier of a proposition is an elementary situation such that if real it makes true. The reference (or objective) of a proposition is a situation, which is the set of all its minimal verifiers. (Maximal ones constitute its locus.) Situations are shown to form (...) a Boolean algebra, and the Boolean set algebra of loci is its representation. Wittgenstein's is a special case, admitting binary dimensions only. (shrink)

The paper applies the theory presented in A Formal Ontology of Situations (this journal, vol. 41 (1982), no. 4) to obtain a typology of metaphysical systems by interpreting them as different ontologies of situations. Four are treated in some detail: Hume's diachronic atomism, Laplacean determinism, Hume's synchronic atomism, and Wittgenstein's logical atomism. Moreover, the relation of that theory to the situation semantics of Perry and Barwise is discussed.

The first Ukrainian translation of the text by Boguslaw Wolniewicz " Let's protect schools". Boguslaw Wolniewich is a new figure in Ukrainian information space. This Warsaw professor and visiting professor at a number of leading American and European universities, a member of the International Wittgenstein Society, also known for his journalistic activities, including appearances in the press, radio and television, and lectures on YouTube where he became a real star of the Internet. The main areas of his thought were (...) logic, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of religion and philosophy of law, but he gained the most recognition as the creator of the ontology of the situation, as translator and commentator of Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as a critic of freudianism, phenomenology, postmodernism, marxism and religious fundamentalism. In his opinion, school reform cannot destroy the authority of a teacher – even for the sake of introducing the latest foreign educational models. Wolniewicz defends the ideals of the classical school, which should give students scientifically sound knowledge, not just practical recipes for survival in society. He emphasizes that the main task of the school is education, and education can appear in it only as a valuable by-product – as doping. The school educates only through learning: through its content, its level, its requirements and its appropriate organization. Wolniewicz warns against the dominance of bureaucracy in the school, and sees the mission of the state in ensuring educational autonomy. A school should not be a profit-oriented institution or a means of building the personal career of an official. (shrink)

The book is an attempt at explaining to the nation the ideas of Frege's Grundlagen. It is wordy and trite, a paradigm case of a redundant piece of writing. The reader is advised to steer clear of it.

Elaborating on Wittgenstein’s ontology of facts, semantic frames are described axiomatically as based on the notion of an elementary situation being the verifier of a proposition. Conditions are investigated then for such frames to be atomic, i.e. to have lattice-theoretic counterparts of his “Sachverhalte”.

To generalize as in [7] the constructions of [2] and [5], let L be a nondegenerate join-semilattice with unit. With A · B = {x ∨ y ∈ L : x ∈ A, y ∈ B} and A⊥ = {y ∈ L : x ∨ y = 1 for all x ∈ A}, the structure , ·,∪, ⊥ , L, ∅) is the algebra of subsets for L. Let R be the maximal ideals of L. Interpreting L as the totality (...) of elementary situations, and 1 ∈ L as the impossible one , the members of R will be called realizations, and R itself – the logical space associated with L. (shrink)

The paper concludes an earlier one on extensions of atomistic semantic frames. Three kinds of extension are considered: the adjunctive, the conjunctive, and the disjunctive one. Some theorems are proved on extending “Humean” frames, i.e. such that the elementary situations constituting their universa are separated by the maximally coherent sets of them.

A “semantic frame” is bounded join-semilattice of elementary situations, with its maximal ideals to represent possible worlds and mapped into the complete sets of propositions determined by a given abstract logic . A frame is Humean if the elementary situations are separated by its possible worlds, and it is atomistic if the semilattice is so. One frame is the extension of another if the latter is an {0,1}-subsemilattice of the former satisfying certain conditions discussed.

W Cambridge 21 grudnia 2013 r. zmarł Peter Thomas Geach – wybitna postać filozofii brytyjskiej i wielki przyjaciel Polski. Imię jego będę tu pisać po polsku, bo wiem, że byłby z tego rad. Znał nasz język i chętnie używał polskiej formy swojego imienia. Był polskim patriotą. Była to postać wielce charakterystyczna...

In [8] we adopted a set SE of elementary situations as our universe of discourse, sketching only roughly its assumed properties. These are to be specied now.

In a letter David Makinson has pointed out to me a clear-cut coun- terexample to the formula T3: S = M in [ S()), propounded in [1] for objective of disjunction. As he says: let p; q be independent E- propositions and put = p ^ q, = p^ q. Since p is an E-proposition, S = fug for some u in SE. Then S = S _ ) = S = fug; but u 62 V () [ V () (...) S() [ S() M in [ S()). (shrink)

This is the fth and last installment in series dealing with the Wittgen- steinian notion of a situation . All proofs and most lemmas have been omitted. They are contained in a comprehensive paper on the ontol- ogy of situations to be submitted to Studia Logica.