Sep 3, 2024 12:00 PM
To be confirmed
Cancelled

Explanation and Definition

Explanation and Definition

Panel:
[PA] Jerzy Pelc and Polish Semiotics (Tadeusz Ciecierski, Małgorzata Gamrat, Filip Kawczyński)
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Speaker:
Maciej Sendłak
University of Warsaw
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While seemingly straightforward, conceptual analysis faces a philosophical challenge known as the paradox of analysis. This paradox emerges from the tension between two essential conditions that conceptual analyses should meet: (a) expressing necessary identity truths and (b) providing informative statements. Historically associated with thinkers like G.E. Moore, G. Frege, and C. H. Langford, this paradox questions the feasibility of conceptual analysis, as some view the conditions as impossible to satisfy. My aim is to explore such an approach towards this paradox that draws on the intriguing resemblance between real definitions and laws of nature. This resemblance originates from the fundamental purpose shared by both conceptual analysis and laws – that of providing explanations for phenomena. It’s important to note that some argue that while laws offer “why-explanations,” conceptual analysis generally provides “what-explanations,” often referred to as explication. I will argue that one can be rephrased in terms of the other. Therefore, just as “Vixen is the female fox” explains what a vixen is, it also explains why every vixen is female. Likewise, “Water is H2O” serves to explain the nature of water and answers why every sample of water is a liquid with the structure H2O. This parallel highlights the explanatory role shared by both real definitions and laws of nature. Grounded in the seminal works of philosophers like K. Ajdukiewicz, renowned for his discussion on real definitions, the paper posits that the role of such definitions allows us to shed new light on the mentioned paradox.

Location:
1.158 room, WLS (Dobra 55 street)

Explore Sessions

02
September
9:30
-
10:30
Location:
Mickiewicz Hall, Auditorium Maximum (Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 str.)
Congress events
Opening Ceremony

September 2, 2024
Congress events
Mickiewicz Hall, Auditorium Maximum (Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 str.)
02
September
10:30
-
11:30
Location:
Mickiewicz Hall, Auditorium Maximum (Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 str.)
From Signs of Language to Semioses of Life: Paradigms and Turns in Global Semiotics

September 2, 2024
Mickiewicz Hall, Auditorium Maximum (Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 str.)
02
September
11:30
-
12:15
Location:
Australia Hall, WLS (Dobra 55 street)
Catering
Coffee break [catering]

September 2, 2024
Catering
Australia Hall, WLS (Dobra 55 street)
Maciej Sendłak