E-Book Overview
This book studies the important issue of the possibility of conceptual change--a possibility traditionally denied by logicians--from the perspective of philosophy of mathematics. The author also looks at aspects of language, and his conclusions have implications for a theory of concepts, truth and thought. The book will appeal to readers in the philosophy of mathematics, logic, and the philosophy of mind and language.
E-Book Content
THE LOGIC OF CONCEPT EXPANSION Scientists and mathematicians frequently describe the development of their field as a process that includes the expansion of concepts. Logicians traditionally deny the possibility of conceptual expansion and the coherence of this description. Meir Buzaglo’s innovative study proposes a way of expanding logic to include the stretching of concepts, while modifying the principles which apparently block this possibility. He offers stimulating discussions of the idea of conceptual expansion as a normative process, and of the relation of conceptual expansion to truth, meaning, reference, ontology and paradox. He analyzes the views of Kant, Wittgenstein, G¨odel, and others, paying especially close attention to Frege. His book will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from philosophers (of logic, mathematics, language, and science) to logicians, mathematicians, linguists, and cognitive scientists. M E I R B U Z A G L O is Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Solomon Maimon’s Metaphysics: A Reconstruction (Pittsburgh University Press, forthcoming). This page intentionally left blank THE LOGIC OF CONCEPT EXPANSION MEIR BUZAGLO PUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS (VIRTUAL PUBLISHING) FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 40 West 20th Street