How can formal methods be applied to philosophical problems that involve informal concepts of ordinary language? Carnap answered this question by describing a methodology that he called “explication.” Strawson objected that explication changes the subject and does not address the original philosophical problem; this paper shows that Carnap’s response to that objection was inadequate and offers ...

ion interpretation P, V, T mathematical objects ------gas

For the last several years, mostly motivated by diagnostic and design problem solving, there has been much work on functions of devices. The intuitions about functions that these investigations capture and to some extent formalize are not all the same, and are generally quite restricted in their range of applicability. In this paper, we attempt to provide a foundation for unifying and generaliz...

The use of interactivity as a variable in empirical investigations has dramatically increased with the emergence of new communication channels such as the world wide web. Though many scholars have employed the concept in analyses, theoretical and operational definitions are exceedingly scattered and incoherent. Accordingly, the purpose of this project is to engender a detailed explication of in...

Inductive probability is the logical concept of probability in ordinary language. It is vague but it can be explicated by defining a clear and precise concept that can serve some of the same purposes. This paper presents a general method for doing such an explication and then a particular explication due to Carnap. Common criticisms of Carnap’s inductive logic are examined; it is shown that mos...