Bringing together powerful new tools from set theory and the philosophy of language, this book proposes a solution to one of the few unresolved paradoxes from antiquity, the Paradox of the Liar. Treating truth as a property of propositions, not sentences, the authors model two distinct conceptions of propositions: one based on the standard notion used by Bertrand Russell, among others, and the other based on J.L. Austin's work on truth. Comparing these two accounts, the authors show that while the Russellian conception of the relation between sentences, propositions, and truth is crucially flawed in limiting cases, the Austinian perspective has fruitful applications to the analysis of semantic paradox. In the course of their study of a language admitting circular reference and containing its own truth predicate, Barwise and Etchemendy also develop a wide range of model-theoretic techniques--based on a new set-theoretic tool, Peter Aczel's theory of hypersets--that open up new avenues in logical and formal semantics.

The Liar: An Essay on Truth and Circularity

History

Barwise, Jon

Etchemendy, John

Australia & Oceania

Oxford University Press

Bringing together powerful new tools from set theory and the philosophy of language, this book proposes a solution to one of the few unresolved paradoxes from antiquity, the Paradox of the Liar. Treating truth as a property of propositions, not sentences, the authors model two distinct conceptions of propositions: one based on the standard notion used by Bertrand Russell, among others, and the other based on J.L. Austin's work on truth. Comparing these two accounts, the authors show that while the Russellian conception of the relation between sentences, propositions, and truth is crucially flawed in limiting cases, the Austinian perspective has fruitful applications to the analysis of semantic paradox. In the course of their study of a language admitting circular reference and containing its own truth predicate, Barwise and Etchemendy also develop a wide range of model-theoretic techniques--based on a new set-theoretic tool, Peter Aczel's theory of hypersets--that open up new avenues in logical and formal semantics.

In this provocative book, Barwise and Perry tackle the slippery subject of "meaning," a subject that has long vexed linguists, language philosophers, and logicians. Meaning, they propose, does not exist solely within words and sentences but resides largely in the situation and the attitudes brought to it by those involved. They present a witty and clear treatment of important innovations in the field of natural semantics, contending that the standard view of logic (as derived from Frege, Russell, and work in mathematics and logic) is inappropriate for many of the uses to which it has been put by scholars. In Situations and Attitudes they provide the basics of a realistic model-theoretic semantics of natural language, explain the main ideas of the theory, and contrast them with those of competing theories. Jon Barwise is Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. John Perry is Professor of Philosophy, also at Stanford.

Situations and Attitudes

Reference

Perry, John

Words, Language & Grammar

Bradford Books

Information Flow: The Logic of Distributed Systems (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science, Series Number 44)

Information is a central topic in computer science, cognitive science, and philosophy. In spite of its importance in the "information age," there is no consensus on what information is, what makes it possible, and what it means for one medium to carry information about another. Drawing on ideas from mathematics, computer science, and philosophy, this book addresses the definition and place of information in society. The authors, observing that information flow is possible only within a connected distribution system, provide a mathematically rigorous, philosophically sound foundation for a science of information. They illustrate their theory by applying it to a wide range of phenomena, from file transfer to DNA, from quantum mechanics to speech act theory.

Computers & Technology

Seligman, Jerry

Computer Science

Cambridge University Press

Information is a central topic in computer science, cognitive science, and philosophy. In spite of its importance in the "information age," there is no consensus on what information is, what makes it possible, and what it means for one medium to carry information about another. Drawing on ideas from mathematics, computer science, and philosophy, this book addresses the definition and place of information in society. The authors, observing that information flow is possible only within a connected distribution system, provide a mathematically rigorous, philosophically sound foundation for a science of information. They illustrate their theory by applying it to a wide range of phenomena, from file transfer to DNA, from quantum mechanics to speech act theory.

The Situation in Logic (Volume 17) (Lecture Notes)

Situation Theory and situation semantics are recent approaches to language and information, approaches first formulated by Jon Barwise and John Perry in Situations and Attitudes (1983). The present volume collects some of Barwise's papers written since then, those directly concerned with relations among logic, situation theory, and situation semantics. Several papers appear here for the first time.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Center for the Study of Language and Inf

The Language of First-Order Logic: Including the Macintosh TM Program, Tarski's World 3.0 (Volume 23) (Lecture Notes)

Tarski's World 3.0 is an innovative and enjoyable way to introduce your students to the language of first-order logic. Using this program, students quickly master the meaning of the connectives and quantifiers, and soon become fluent in the symbolic language at the core of modern logic. Tarski's World allows the students to build three-dimensional worlds and describe them in first-order logic. They evaluate the sentences in the constructed worlds, and if their evaluation is incorrect, the program provides them with a game that leads them to understand where they went wrong. The package is intended as a supplement to any standard logic text, or for use by anyone who wants to learn the language. The disk and manual contain over a hundred exercises from very basic to highly sophisticated.

Tarski's World 3.0: Including the Macintosh TM Program (Lecture Notes)

Science & Math

Mathematics

The Language of First-Order Logic, Including Tarski's World 3.0 (Mac) (Lecture Notes) (Volume 23)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barwise, Jon. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Barwise, Jon

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barwise, Jon. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Liar: An Essay on Truth and Circularity

The Liar: An Essay on Truth and Circularity

Situations and Attitudes

Information Flow: The Logic of Distributed Systems (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science, Series Number 44)

Information Flow: The Logic of Distributed Systems (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science, Series Number 44)

The Situation in Logic (Volume 17) (Lecture Notes)

The Situation in Logic (Volume 17) (Lecture Notes)

The Language of First-Order Logic: Including the Macintosh TM Program, Tarski's World 3.0 (Volume 23) (Lecture Notes)

Tarski's World 3.0: Including the Macintosh TM Program (Lecture Notes)

The Language of First-Order Logic, Including Tarski's World 3.0 (Mac) (Lecture Notes) (Volume 23)