Semantic reasons for ontological statements

the argumentation of a reist

pp. 85-96

in: Jan Woleński (ed), Kotarbiński, Berlin, Springer, 1990

Abstract

There are different kinds of logical connection between semantics and ontology — between semantic and ontological statements and theories. The extreme case is that of reducing ontology to semantics by providing semantic paraphrases for ontological theses. This may be illustrated by the analysis of the doctrine of transcendental idealism as caried out by Ajdukiewicz.¹ The version of the idealistic thesis discussed by Ajdukiewicz amounts to the claim that "reality is nothing but a correlate of the transcedental subject". This allegedly ontological thesis is translated by Ajdukiewicz into an explicitly semantic claim which asserts that any statement of the language of science is true if and only if it is "dictated by the meaning-rules of that language". So paraphrased, the idealistic thesis is shown to be easily falsifiable.