KOTARBINSKI: LOGIC. SEMANTICS AND ONTOLOGY

KOTARBINSKI: LOGIC. SEMANTICS AND ONTOLOGY

Nijhoff International Philosophy Series VOLUME 40 General Editor: JAN T. J. SRZEDNICKI Editor for volumes on Applying Philosophy: LYNNE M. BROUGHTON Editor for volumes on Logic and Applying Logic: STANISLAW J. SURMA Editor for volumes on Contributions to Philosophy: JAN T. J. SRZEDNICKI Assistant to the General Editor: DAVID WOOD Editorial Advisory Board: R.M. Chisholm (Brown University. Rhode Island); Mats Furberg (Goteborg University); D.A.T. Gasking (University of Melbourne); H.L.A. Hart (University College. Oxford); S. Komer (University of Bristol and Yale University); H.J. McCloskey (La Trobe University. Bundoora. Melbourne); J. Passmore (Australian National University. Canberra); A. Quinton (Trinity College. Oxford); Nathan Rotenstreich (The Hebrew University. Jerusalem); Franco Spisani (Centro Superiore di Logica e Scienze Comparate. Bologna); R. Ziedins (Waikato University. New Zealand) The titles published in this series are listed at the end o/this volume.

Kotarbinski: Logic, Semantics and Ontology edited by Jan W olenski Jagiellonian University, KrakOw and The Technical University, Wrodaw, Poland.. KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kotarblnskl logic. semantics. and ontology / edited by Jan WOlenski. p. cm. -- (Ni jhoff international phi losophy series; v. 40) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 13: 976-94 010-7442-1 e-isbn-13: 976 94-009 2097 2 001: 10.10071976 94 009-2097 2 1. Kotarbinskl. Tadeuz. 2. LoglC. Symbolic and mathematical. 3. SemantIcs. 4. Ontology. I. WOlenskl. Jan. II. SerIes. 84691.K594K67 1990 199'. 438--dc20 90-40625 ISBN-13:978-94-010-7442-1 Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates the publishing programmes of D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved e 1990 by Kluwer Academic Publishers Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Notes on Contributors vii lx Tadeusz Kotarbinski Philosophical self-portrait Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz Review-article: T Kotarbinski's Elements of the Theory of Knowledge, Formal Logic and Methodology of the Sciences 7 Alfred Gawro~ski Psychologism and the principle of relevance in semantics 23 Peter Geach Names in Kotarbinski's Elementy Andrzej Grzegorczyk Consistent reism Henryk Hiz A note about reism Janina Kotarbinska Puzzles of existence 31 39 47 53 Czesraw Lejewski On the dramatic stage in the development of Kotarbinski's pansomatism 69 Marian Przer~cki Semantic reasons for ontological statements: the argumentation of a reist 85 Tadeusz Pszczolowski Philosophical and methodological foundations of Kotarbinski's praxiology 97

vi Vito F Sinisi Kotarbinski's theory of genuine names Vito F Sinisi Kotarbinski's theory of pseudo-names Barry Smith On the phases of reism Klemens Szaniawski Philosophy of the concrete Jan Wolenski Kotarbinski, many-valued logic, and truth BogusJaw Wolniewicz Concerning reism Ewa Zarneck"a-Bialy The voice of the past in Kotarbinski's writings 107 119 137 185 191 199 205 References Index of names Index of subjects 213 225 229

PREFACE Tadeusz Kotarbinski is one of towering figures in contemporary Polish philosophy. He was a great thinker, a great teacher, a great organizer of philosophical and scientific life (he was, among others, the rector of the Uni versi ty of t6dz, the president of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the president of the International Institute of Philosophy), and, last but not least, a great moral authority. He died at the age of 96 on October 3, 1981. Kotarbinski was active in almost all branches of philosophy. He made many significant contributions to logic, semantics, ontology, epistemology, history of philosophy, and ethics. He created a new field, namely praxiology. Thus, using an ancient distinction, he contributed to theoretical as well as practical philoso~hy. Kotarbinski regarded praxiology as his major philosophical "child". Doubtless, praxiology belongs to practical philosophy. This collection, howewer, is mainly devoted to Kotarbinski' s theoretical philosophy. Reism - Kotarbinski' s fundamental idea of ontology and semantics - is the central topic of most papers included here; even Pszczolowski' s essay on praxiology considers its ontological basis.,only two papers, namely that of Zarnecka-Bialy and that of Wolenski, are not linked with reism. However, both fall under the general label "Kotarbinski: logic, semantics and ontology". The collection partly consists of earlier published papers. Kotarbinski's "Self-portrait" and Szaniawski' s "Philosophy of the concrete" first appeared in Dialectics and Humanism 5 (1977), the English translation Ajdukiewicz' s review of Kotarbinski' s Elements of the Theory of Knowledge, Logic and the Methodology of Sciences - in Kotarbinski, Gnosiology, Ossolineum-Pergamon Press, Wroclaw-Oxford 1966, Kotarbinska's "Puzzles of existence" in Semiotics in Poland, 1894-1969, ed. by J. Pelc, Polish Scientific Publisher- D. Reidel, Warszawa-Dordrecht 1978, Lejewski 's "The dramatic stage in the development of Kotarbinski's pansomatism" - in Ontology and Logic, ed. by P.Weingartner and E.Morscher, Duncker and Humblod, Berlin 1979, Sinisi's "Kotarbinski's theory of genuine n.ames" and "Kotarbinski's theory of pseudo-names" in Theoria 30 (1964) and 31 (1965), respecti vely. I am very much grateful to editors and publishers for their kind reprint permissions. Also many thanks are due to Lynn Broughton for her checking of English in most papers and to Jaroslaw Fall for his help in preparin~ the camera ready text. Jan Wolenski

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Tadeusz Kotarbinski (1886-1981) was a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Warsaw and the University of todz. Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz (1890-1963) was a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Lvov, the University of Poznan and the University of Warsaw. Alfred Gawronski is a Lecturer of Philosophy in the Pontifical Theological Academy in Krakow. Peter. Geach is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the University of Leeds. Andrzej Grzegorczyk is a Professor of Philosophy in the Polish Academy of Sciences. Henryk Hiz is an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Janina Kotarbinska is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the University of Warsaw. Czeslaw Lejewski is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the University of Manchester. Warsaw. Marian Przel~cki is a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Tadeusz Pszczolowski is a Professor of Philosophy in the Polish Academy of Sciences. Vito F. Sinisi is a Professor of Philosophy in State University of New York at Binghamton. Barry Smith is a Professor of Philosophy in Internationale Akademie der Philosophie in Schaan, Liechtenstein. Klemens Szaniawski (1925-1990) was a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Warsaw. Jan Wolenski is a Professor of Philosophy in the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Boguslaw Wolniewicz is a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Warsaw. Ewa Zarnecka-Bialy is a Professor of Philosoph~ in the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. ix