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On the Extension of Beth's Semantics of Physical Theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Bas C. Van fraassen
Bas C. Van fraassen*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

A basic aim of E. Beth's work in philosophy of science was to explore the use of formal semantic methods in the analysis of physical theories. We hope to show that a general framework for Beth's semantic analysis is provided by the theory of semi-interpreted languages, introduced in a previous paper. After developing Beth's analysis of nonrelativistic physical theories in a more general form, we turn to the notion of the ‘logic’ of a physical theory. Here we prove a result concerning the conditions under which semantic entailment in such a theory is finitary. We argue, finally, that Beth's approach provides a characterization of physical theory which is more faithful to current practice in foundational research in the sciences than the familiar picture of a partly interpreted axiomatic theory.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 1970 , pp. 325 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © 1970 by The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

1

This study was supported in part by NSF grant GS-1566. I also wish to express my debt to Dr. F. Suppe, University of Illinois, for stimulating discussion. His doctoral thesis [27] develops a point of view closely related to Beth's.

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