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Material Adequacy Condition
A semantic theory of truth is a theory of truth in the philosophy of language which holds that truth is a property of sentences. Origin The semantic conception of truth, which is related in different ways to both the correspondence and deflationary conceptions, is due to work by Polish logician Alfred Tarski. Tarski, in "On the Concept of Truth in Formal Languages" (1935), attempted to formulate a new theory of truth in order to resolve the liar paradox. In the course of this he made several metamathematical discoveries, most notably Tarski's undefinability theorem using the same formal technique Kurt Gödel used in his incompleteness theorems. Roughly, this states that a truth-predicate satisfying Convention T for the sentences of a given language cannot be defined ''within'' that language. Tarski's theory of truth To formulate linguistic theories without semantic paradoxes such as the liar paradox, it is generally necessary to distinguish the language that one is talking abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theory Of Truth
Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences. Truth is usually held to be the opposite of falsehood. The concept of truth is discussed and debated in various contexts, including philosophy, art, theology, and science. Most human activities depend upon the concept, where its nature as a concept is assumed rather than being a subject of discussion; these include most of the sciences, law, journalism, and everyday life. Some philosophers view the concept of truth as basic, and unable to be explained in any terms that are more easily understood than the concept of truth itself. Most commonly, truth is viewed as the correspondence of language or thought to a mind-independent world. This is called the correspondence theory of truth. Various theo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Language
In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages can take different forms, such as speech or signing. They are distinguished from constructed and formal languages such as those used to program computers or to study logic. Defining natural language Natural language can be broadly defined as different from * artificial and constructed languages, e.g. computer programming languages * constructed international auxiliary languages * non-human communication systems in nature such as whale and other marine mammal vocalizations or honey bees' waggle dance. All varieties of world languages are natural languages, including those that are associated with linguistic prescriptivism or language regulation. ( Nonstandard dialects can be viewed as a wild type in comparison with standard l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relation (mathematics)
In mathematics, a relation on a set may, or may not, hold between two given set members. For example, ''"is less than"'' is a relation on the set of natural numbers; it holds e.g. between 1 and 3 (denoted as 1 is an asymmetric relation, but ≥ is not. Again, the previous 3 alternatives are far from being exhaustive; as an example over the natural numbers, the relation defined by is neither symmetric nor antisymmetric, let alone asymmetric. ; : for all , if and then . A transitive relation is irreflexive if and only if it is asymmetric. For example, "is ancestor of" is a transitive relation, while "is parent of" is not. ; : for all , if then or . This property is sometimes called "total", which is distinct from the definitions of "total" given in the section . ; : for all , or . This property is sometimes called "total", which is distinct from the definitions of "total" given in the section . ; : every nonempty subset of contains a minimal element with respect to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variable (mathematics)
In mathematics, a variable (from Latin '' variabilis'', "changeable") is a symbol that represents a mathematical object. A variable may represent a number, a vector, a matrix, a function, the argument of a function, a set, or an element of a set. Algebraic computations with variables as if they were explicit numbers solve a range of problems in a single computation. For example, the quadratic formula solves any quadratic equation by substituting the numeric values of the coefficients of that equation for the variables that represent them in the quadratic formula. In mathematical logic, a ''variable'' is either a symbol representing an unspecified term of the theory (a meta-variable), or a basic object of the theory that is manipulated without referring to its possible intuitive interpretation. History In ancient works such as Euclid's ''Elements'', single letters refer to geometric points and shapes. In the 7th century, Brahmagupta used different colours to represent the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Value (mathematics)
In mathematics, value may refer to several, strongly related notions. In general, a mathematical value may be any definite mathematical object. In elementary mathematics, this is most often a number – for example, a real number such as or an integer such as 42. * The value of a variable or a constant is any number or other mathematical object assigned to it. * The value of a mathematical expression is the result of the computation described by this expression when the variables and constants in it are assigned values. * The value of a function, given the value(s) assigned to its argument(s), is the quantity assumed by the function for these argument values. For example, if the function is defined by , then assigning the value 3 to its argument yields the function value 10, since . If the variable, expression or function only assumes real values, it is called real-valued. Likewise, a complex-valued variable, expression or function only assumes complex values. See also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assignment (mathematical Logic)
In logic and model theory, a valuation can be: *In propositional logic, an assignment of truth values to propositional variables, with a corresponding assignment of truth values to all propositional formulas with those variables. *In first-order logic and higher-order logics, a structure, (the interpretation) and the corresponding assignment of a truth value to each sentence in the language for that structure (the valuation proper). The interpretation must be a homomorphism, while valuation is simply a function. Mathematical logic In mathematical logic (especially model theory), a valuation is an assignment of truth values to formal sentences that follows a truth schema. Valuations are also called truth assignments. In propositional logic, there are no quantifiers, and formulas are built from propositional variables using logical connectives. In this context, a valuation begins with an assignment of a truth value to each propositional variable. This assignment can be uniquely e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atomic Sentence
In logic and analytic philosophy, an atomic sentence is a type of declarative sentence which is either true or false (may also be referred to as a proposition, statement or truthbearer) and which cannot be broken down into other simpler sentences. For example, "The dog ran" is an atomic sentence in natural language, whereas "The dog ran and the cat hid" is a molecular sentence in natural language. From a logical analysis point of view, the truth or falsity of sentences in general is determined by only two things: the logical form of the sentence and the truth or falsity of its simple sentences. This is to say, for example, that the truth of the sentence "John is Greek and John is happy" is a function of the meaning of "and", and the truth values of the atomic sentences "John is Greek" and "John is happy". However, the truth or falsity of an atomic sentence is not a matter that is within the scope of logic itself, but rather whatever art or science the content of the atomic sentence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constituent (linguistics)
In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words that function as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. The constituent structure of sentences is identified using ''tests for constituents''. These tests apply to a portion of a sentence, and the results provide evidence about the constituent structure of the sentence. Many constituents are phrases. A phrase is a sequence of one or more words (in some theories two or more) built around a head lexical item and working as a unit within a sentence. A word sequence is shown to be a phrase/constituent if it exhibits one or more of the behaviors discussed below. The analysis of constituent structure is associated mainly with phrase structure grammars, although dependency grammars also allow sentence structure to be broken down into constituent parts. Tests for constituents in English Tests for constituents are diagnostics used to identify sentence structure. There are numerous tests for constituents that are co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantifier (logic)
In logic, a quantifier is an operator that specifies how many individuals in the domain of discourse satisfy an open formula. For instance, the universal quantifier \forall in the first order formula \forall x P(x) expresses that everything in the domain satisfies the property denoted by P. On the other hand, the existential quantifier \exists in the formula \exists x P(x) expresses that there exists something in the domain which satisfies that property. A formula where a quantifier takes widest scope is called a quantified formula. A quantified formula must contain a bound variable and a subformula specifying a property of the referent of that variable. The mostly commonly used quantifiers are \forall and \exists. These quantifiers are standardly defined as duals; in classical logic, they are interdefinable using negation. They can also be used to define more complex quantifiers, as in the formula \neg \exists x P(x) which expresses that nothing has the property P. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logical Connective
In logic, a logical connective (also called a logical operator, sentential connective, or sentential operator) is a logical constant. They can be used to connect logical formulas. For instance in the syntax of propositional logic, the binary connective \lor can be used to join the two atomic formulas P and Q, rendering the complex formula P \lor Q . Common connectives include negation, disjunction, conjunction, and implication. In standard systems of classical logic, these connectives are interpreted as truth functions, though they receive a variety of alternative interpretations in nonclassical logics. Their classical interpretations are similar to the meanings of natural language expressions such as English "not", "or", "and", and "if", but not identical. Discrepancies between natural language connectives and those of classical logic have motivated nonclassical approaches to natural language meaning as well as approaches which pair a classical compositional semantics wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
T-schema
The T-schema ("truth schema", not to be confused with "Convention T") is used to check if an inductive definition of truth is valid, which lies at the heart of any realisation of Alfred Tarski's semantic theory of truth. Some authors refer to it as the "Equivalence Schema", a synonym introduced by Michael Dummett. The T-schema is often expressed in natural language, but it can be formalized in many-sorted predicate logic or modal logic; such a formalisation is called a "T-theory." T-theories form the basis of much fundamental work in philosophical logic, where they are applied in several important controversies in analytic philosophy. As expressed in semi-natural language (where 'S' is the name of the sentence abbreviated to S): 'S' is true if and only if S. Example: 'snow is white' is true if and only if snow is white. The inductive definition By using the schema one can give an inductive definition for the truth of compound sentences. Atomic sentences are assigned truth v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inductive Definition
In mathematics and computer science, a recursive definition, or inductive definition, is used to define the elements in a set in terms of other elements in the set ( Aczel 1977:740ff). Some examples of recursively-definable objects include factorials, natural numbers, Fibonacci numbers, and the Cantor ternary set. A recursive definition of a function defines values of the function for some inputs in terms of the values of the same function for other (usually smaller) inputs. For example, the factorial function ''n''! is defined by the rules :0! = 1. :(''n'' + 1)! = (''n'' + 1)·''n''!. This definition is valid for each natural number ''n'', because the recursion eventually reaches the base case of 0. The definition may also be thought of as giving a procedure for computing the value of the function ''n''!, starting from ''n'' = 0 and proceeding onwards with ''n'' = 1, ''n'' = 2, ''n'' = 3 etc. The recursion theorem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
