The rise and development of logical semantics in Poland
pp. 43-59
in: Sandra Lapointe, Jan Woleński, Mathieu Marion, Wioletta Miskiewicz (eds), The Golden age of Polish philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 2009Abstract
The aim of this paper is to portray the rise and development of logical (formal) semantics in Poland in the years that constitute the "golden age" of Polish logic and philosophy (see also Wolenski 2002). I use the adjective "Polish" purely geographically, that is, as equivalent to "in Poland". This means that the phrase does not connote any national ingredients. My considerations are restricted to the period that extends from 1895 (when Kazimierz Twardowski came to Lvov as the professor of philosophy) until 1939 (the beginning of World War II), but I'll make some comments about the situation after 1945. Technically speaking, there was no Poland between 1895–1918, but Polish philosophy nonetheless developed quite well during those years, and I will abstract from these peculiar political circumstance. Since the length of this paper is limited, my presentation focuses on certain issues and ignores others. In particular, I do not compare Polish philosophy with other contemporary traditions or schools in which logic and semantics flourished. I also assume that the ideas of the main Polish philosophers, especially those of Tarski, are sufficiently well known and do not require a detailed presentation.
