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These two volumes contain all of my articles published between 1956 and 1975 which might be of interest to readers in the English-speaking world. The first three essays in Vol. 1 deal with historical themes. In each case I have attempted a rational reconstruction which, as far as possible, meets con temporary standards of exactness. In The Problem of Universals Then and Now some ideas of W.V. Quine and N. Goodman are used to create a modem sketch of the history of the debate on universals beginning with Plato and ending with Hao Wang's System :E. The second article concerns Kant's Philosophy of Science. By analyzing his position vis-a-vis I. Newton, Christian Wolff, and D. Hume, it is shown that for Kant the very notion of empirical knowledge was beset with a funda mental logical difficulty. In his metaphysics of experience Kant offered a solution differing from all prior as well as subsequent attempts aimed at the problem of establishing a scientific theory. The last of the three historical papers utilizes some concepts of modem logic to give a precise account of Wittgenstein's so-called Picture Theory of Meaning. E. Stenius' interpretation of this theory is taken as an intuitive starting point while an intensional variant of Tarski's concept of a relational system furnishes a technical instrument. The concepts of model world and of logical space, together with those of homomorphism and isomorphism be tween model worlds and between logical spaces, form the conceptual basis of the reconstruction.
List of contents
1. The So-Called Circle of Understanding.- 2. 'The Problem of Causality'.- 3. Explanation, Prediction, Scientific Systematization and Non-Explanatory Information.- 1. Introduction.- 2. On Possible Conventions Governing the Use of 'Explanation' and 'Prediction'.- 3. An Additional Argument of Plausibility in favour of the Counterthesis.- 4. A Systematic Approach.- 5. Non-Explanatory Information.- 4. The Problem of Induction: Hume's Challenge and the Contemporary Answers.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Humean Challenge.- 3. Deductivism: K. Popper.- 4. Inductivism 1.- 5. Inductivism 2.- 6. Concluding Remarks.- 5. Carnap's Normative Theory of Inductive Probability.- 6. Logical Understanding and the Dynamics of Theories.- 7. Structures and Dynamics of Theories: Some Reflections on J.D. Sneed and T.S. Kuhn.- 8. Language and Logic.- 1. Preface.- 2. The Functions of 'Is'.- 3. 'All', 'Something', and 'Nothing'.- 4. 'I', 'You', 'He', 'She', 'It'.- 5. 'Not', 'And', 'Or', 'If ...Then'.- 6. Logical Truth.- 7. 'The'.- 8. 'It is Possible That ... ', 'It is Necessary That ...'.- 9. Remarks on the Completeness of Logical Systems Relative to the Validity-Concepts of P. Lorenzen and K. Lorenz.- Index of Names.
