Aristotle and Lukasiewicz on existential import

Stephen Read

doi:10.1017/apa.2015.8

Aristotle and Lukasiewicz on existential import

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Jan Lukasiewicz's treatise on Aristotle's Syllogistic, published in the 1950s, has been very influential in framing contemporary understanding of Aristotle's logical systems. However, Lukasiewicz's interpretation is based on a number of tendentious claims, not least, the claim that the syllogistic was intended to apply only to non-empty terms. I show that this interpretation is not true to Aristotle's text and that a more coherent and faithful interpretation admits empty terms while maintaining all the relations of the traditional square of opposition.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	535-544
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of the American Philosophical Association
Volume	1
Issue number	3
Early online date	22 Sept 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2015.8
Publication status	Published - 2015

Keywords

Aristotle
Square of opposition
Lukasiewicz
Empty terms

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10.1017/apa.2015.8

Existential-import
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2015. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/apa.2015.8
Accepted author manuscript, 221 KB

FOUNDATIONS OF LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE: Foundations of Logical Consequence
Read, S. (PI), Priest, G. G. (CoI), Shapiro, S. (CoI) & Celani, L. (Student)
Arts and Humanities Research Council
1/01/09 → 30/06/12
Project: Standard

Cite this

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abstract = "Jan Lukasiewicz's treatise on Aristotle's Syllogistic, published in the 1950s, has been very influential in framing contemporary understanding of Aristotle's logical systems. However, Lukasiewicz's interpretation is based on a number of tendentious claims, not least, the claim that the syllogistic was intended to apply only to non-empty terms. I show that this interpretation is not true to Aristotle's text and that a more coherent and faithful interpretation admits empty terms while maintaining all the relations of the traditional square of opposition.",

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Aristotle and Lukasiewicz on existential import

Abstract

Keywords

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FOUNDATIONS OF LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE: Foundations of Logical Consequence

Cite this