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A formal ontology of situations

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Abstract

A generalized Wittgensteinian semantics for propositional languages is presented, based on a lattice of elementary situations. Of these, maximal ones are possible worlds, constituting a logical space; minimal ones are logical atoms, partitioned into its dimensions. A verifier of a proposition α is an elementary situation such that if real it makes α true. The reference (or objective) of a proposition is a situation, which is the set of all its minimal verifiers. (Maximal ones constitute its locus.) Situations are shown to form a Boolean algebra, and the Boolean set algebra of loci is its representation. Wittgenstein's is a special case, admitting binary dimensions only.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warsaw University, Poland

    Bogusław Wolniewicz

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  1. Bogusław Wolniewicz
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Wolniewicz, B. A formal ontology of situations. Stud Logica 41, 381–413 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403338

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403338

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