Kripke semantics for knowledge representation logics

This article provides an overview of development of Kripke semantics for logics determined by information systems. The proposals are made to extend the standard Kripke structures to the structures based on information systems. The underlying logics are defined and problems of their axiomatization are discussed. Several open problems connected with the logics are formulated. Logical aspects of incompleteness of information provided by information systems are considered.     

Verisimilitude based on concept analysis

In the paper ordering relations for comparison of verisimilitude of theories are introduced and discussed. The relations refer to semantic analysis of the results of theories, in particular to analysis of concepts the theories deal with.     

Liberalism in Poland: What Is Left?

Studies in East European Thought -     

Book reviews

Science as Salvation: a Modern Myth and its Meaning, Mary Midgley, 1994. London, Routledge x +256pp., Hb 04 15062713, £35; Pb 04 15107733, £8.99

Philosophical Naturalism, David Papineau, 1993 Oxford, Basil Blackwell xii +219pp., Hb 0631189025, £40; Pb 0631189033, £14.99

F. H. Bradley, Writings on Logic and Metaphysics, James W. Allard & Guy Stock (Eds), 1994. Oxford, Clarendon Press xv+357pp, Hb 0–198–24445–2, £40.00; Pb 0–198–24438‐X, £14.95

Invariance and Heuristics: Essays in Honour of Heinz Post, Steven French & Harmke Kamminga (Eds), 1993 Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 148 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

Beyond Reason: Essays on the Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend, GONZALO MUNÉVAR (Ed.), 1991. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers xxi + 535pp., hb, ISBN 0–7923–1272–4, £104.20

World Changes: Thomas Kuhn and the Nature of Science, Paul Horwich (Ed.), 1993. Cambridge, MA, Bradford Books/MIT Press vi + 356pp., pb, ISBN 0262581388, £14.95

Realism Rescued: How Scientific Progress is Possible, Jerold L. Aronson, Rom Harré & Eileen Cornell Way, 1994 London, Duckworth vii +213pp., Hb 0715624768, £30.00

Scientific Nihilism: On the Loss and Recovery of Physical Explanation, Daniel Athearn, 1994. State University of New York Press, Albany ix + 387pp., Hb ISBN 0–7914–1807–3, £52

Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology, William Lane Craig & Quentin Smith, 1993. Oxford, Clarendon Press x +342pp., Hb 0198263481, £35; Pb 019826383X, £13.95     

Three-element nonfinitely axiomatizable matrices

There are exactly two nonfinitely axiomatizable algebraic matrices with one binary connective o such thatx(yz) is a tautology of . This answers a question asked by W. Rautenberg in [2], P. Wojtylak in [8] and W. Dziobiak in [1]. Since every 2-element matrix can be finitely axiomatized ([3]), the matrices presented here are of the smallest possible size and in some sense are the simplest possible.Presented byWolfgang Rautenberg     

Geography and computer ethics: An Eastern European perspective

Several context-specific social and political factors in Eastern and Central Europe are described — factors that must be considered while developing strategies to introduce Computer Ethics. Poland is used as a primary example. GNP per capita, the cost of hardware and software, uneven and scant distribution of computing resources, and attitudes toward work and authority are discussed. Such “geographical factors” must be taken into account as the new field of Computer Ethics develops.     

The relation between subjective distance and emotional involvement: Further experiment

The purpose of this experiment has been to test the value of an exponent of the power function describing the relation between emotional involvement and subjective distance, called the inverse square root law (Ekman and Bratfisch 1965). A group of 113 subjects were instructed to estimate 65 inter-city distances with Opole, Poland, as the center, and, next, to estimate the importance attributed to the cities, their own personal interest in them and involvement to them. The experiment partly confirmed the results obtained in original investigations, that is the inverse square root law holds true for cities of a range of distance not exceeding about 5000 km. For more distant cities a different trend has been observed, namely an increase of emotional involvement with increase of subjective distance to these cities. This might lead to the supposition that the relation between emotional involvement and subjective distance could be described by a parabolic relation.     

Finite structural axiomatization of every finite-valued propositional calculus

In [2] A. Wroski proved that there is a strongly finite consequence C which is not finitely based i.e. for every consequence C ⁺ determined by a finite set of standard rules C C ⁺. In this paper it will be proved that for every strongly finite consequence C there is a consequence C ⁺ determined by a finite set of structural rules such that C(Ø)=C ⁺(Ø) and = (where , are consequences obtained by adding to the rules of C, C ⁺ respectively the rule of substitution). Moreover it will be shown that under certain assumptions C=C ⁺.