IUHPST/DLMPST

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DIVISION OF LOGIC, METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Bulletin No. 4

This bulletin was published in Synthese Volume 43 No. 1 (1980) 183-192, DOI 10.1007/BF00413862.

IUHPS / DLMPS

I. COUNCIL AND OFFICERS OF THE DIVISION FOR THE PERIOD 1975-1979

Executive Committee

  • President: Patrick Suppes, Ventura Hall, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, U.S.A.
  • First Vice-President: A. A. Markov, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, University of Moscow, Moscow V 234, U.S.S.R.
  • Second Vice-President: R. E. Butts, Department of Philosophy, Talbot College, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
  • Secretary: L. J. Cohen, The Queen's College, Oxford, U.K.
  • Treasurer: J.-E. Fenstad, Institute of Mathematics, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway.

Assessors:

  • E. Agazzi, Genoa University
  • M. Guillaume, Université de Clermont-Ferrand
  • H. Rasiowa, Warsaw University
  • G. E. Sacks, Harvard University
  • V. N. Sadovsky, Institute for History of Science and Technology, Moscow
  • N. Sawada, Keio University

Alternate Assessors:

  • R. Barcan Marcus, Yale University
  • M. Przelecki, Warsaw University

Former Presidents:

  • S. C. Kleene, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706;
  • G. H. von Wright, Laivurinkatu 4, 00150 Helsinki 14, Finland;
  • Yehoshua Bar-Hillel (deceased);
  • Stephan Körner, The University, Bristol BS8 1RJ, U.K.;
  • Andrzej Mostowski (deceased);
  • Jaakko Hintikka, Department of Philosophy, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, U.S.A.

The Executive Committee of the Division is composed of the President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer. The Council consists of the Executive Committee plus the Assessors.

II. COMMITTEE FOR THE VITH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Hannover, Lower Saxony, BRD, August 22-29, 1979)

Local Organising Committee

  • A. Harms, Hannover
  • A. Heinekamp, Hannover
  • G. Hesse, Hannover
  • M. Holz, Hannover Th. Kaluza, Hannover
  • I. König, Hannover
  • F. von Kutschera, Regensburg
  • G. H. Müller, Heidelberg
  • A. Oberschelp, Kiel
  • P. Päppinghaus, Hannover
  • H. Pfeiffer, Hannover (Chairman)
  • K.-P. Podewski, Hannover
  • J. Reineke, Hannover
  • D. Schmidt, Heidelberg
  • K. Steffens, Hannover
  • W. Totok, Hannover
  • G. Wilke, Hannover

Programme Committee

Steering committee:

  • P. Achinstein (U.S.A.)
  • L. J. Cohen (U.K.)
  • J. ŁoÅ› (Poland) Chairman
  • G. H. Müller (Germany-BRD)
  • V. N. Sadovsky (U.S.S.R.)

Chairmen of sectional committees:

  • D. Prawitz (Sweden) Section 1: Proof theory and foundations of mathematics
  • H. J. Keisler (U.S.A.) Section 2: Model theory and its applications
  • Y. L. Ershov, (U.S.S.R.) Section 3: Recursion theory and theory of computation
  • W. Marek (Poland) Section 4: Axiomatic set theory
  • B. C. van Fraassen (Canada) Section 5 : Philosophical logic
  • R. Harré (U.K.) Section 6: General methodology of science
  • I. Levi (U.S.A.) Section 7: Foundations of probability and induction
  • G. T. di Francia (Italy) Section 8: Foundations and philosophy of the physical sciences
  • M. Ruse (Canada) Section 9: Foundations and philosophy of biology
  • J. A. Fodor (U.S.A.) Section 10: Foundations and philosophy of psychology
  • A. K. Sen (U.K.) Section 11: Foundations and philosophy of the social sciences
  • H. Hiż (U.S.A.) Section 12: Foundations and philosophy of linguistics
  • M. Jammer (Israel) Section 13: History of logic, methodology and philosophy of science
  • D. Føllesdal (Norway) Section 14: Fundamental principles of the ethics of science

III. MINUTES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
(Hannover, Lower Saxony, BRD, August 25 [1979])

(1) Verification of Credentials

The credentials committee (T. E. Butts and L. J. Cohen) reported that, in accordance with their mandate from the Executive Committee, they had verified the credentials of 26 delegations from national committees and 4 from international member organisations. These were as follows. (The category of each national member and the voting entitlement of each International Member is indicated in parentheses.)

National Members

  • Australia (B): J. C. C. Smart
  • Austria (A): P. Weingartner
  • Belgium (A): G. Hirsch
  • Canada (C): R. E. Butts, G. R. Paterson
  • Chile (A): R. B. Chuaqui
  • Czechoslovakia (A): K. Berka
  • Denmark (A): B. Witt-Hansen
  • Finland (B): J. Hintikka
  • France (D): A. Fagot, M. Guillaume, J. Mosconi, J. Stern
  • Germany-BRD (D): G. H. Müller, A. Oberschelp, H. Pfeiffer, C. Thiel
  • Germany-DDR (B): D. Klimaszewsky, D. Schulze
  • Hungary (A): F. Altrichter
  • Israel (A): M. Magidor
  • Italy (A): Toraldo di Francia
  • Japan (C): Akira Ohe, Mutsuo Yanase, Natuhiko Yosida
  • Netherlands (C): J. F. A. K. van Benthem, W. Peremans
  • Norway (A): I. Gullvag
  • Poland (B): R. Wójcicki
  • Roumania (A): R. Pantazi
  • Spain (A): M. Garrido (M. S. Mazas)
  • Sweden (B): S. Kanger, D. Prawitz
  • Switzerland (A): E. Engeler
  • Taiwan (A): Chun-Shan Shen
  • Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (D): B. M. Kedrov, Y. L. Ershov, V. N. Sadovsky, V. A. Smirnov
  • United Kingdom (D): J. W, S. Cassels, R. O. Gandy, S. Körner, D. Miller
  • United States of America (E): P. D. Asquith, A. Gibbard, H. E. Kyburg, I. Levi, R. B. Marcus

National members not present:

Bulgaria (A), Monaco (A), Turkey (A), Yugoslavia (A).

International members

  • Association for Symbolic Logic (10): R. Chuaqui, Y. L. Ershov, D. Føllesdal, D. A. Martin, C. Parsons
  • Charles S. Peirce Society (1): R. Martin
  • Philosophy of Science Association (5): P. Achinstein, D. Clarke, E. McMullin, M. Ruse, M. Williams
  • Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy of Science (1): N. Rescher

(2) Admission of New Members

The Secretary reported applications for membership from the Brazilian Society for Logic, the Indian National Science Academy, and the Mexican Association for Epistemology. On the recommendation of the Executive Committee these applications were all accepted in category A.

(3) Termination of Deficient Members

The Secretary reported that in accordance with the instructions of the last General Assembly efforts had been made to revive the national committees in Chile and Greece. These efforts had been successful so far as Chile was concerned. The membership of Greece however had to be regarded as terminated. It was hoped however that the 1980 ASL meeting in Patras, Greece, would provide an opportunity to set up a new Greek national committee.

(4) Reclassification of Members

At the request of the Spanish delegate it was agreed that Spain should be reclassified in category B.

(5) Regulations for International Members

In accordance with the instructions of the last General Assembly the Executive Committee put forward a possible way of rationalising the schedule of votes, dues and subventions for International Members. This was as follows:

  1. Membership of Institute for Unity of Science and of Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy of Science to be terminated.
  2. C.S. Peirce Society to be assigned to category A ($100 dues, and one vote).
  3. These measures to be without prejudice to existing voting rights on the present issue or to the future subsidisation of international meetings and conferences.
  4. The subsidy to J.S.L. to be terminated.

After a considerable discussion the General Assembly decided to reject this proposal, with the exception of the termination of membership of I.U.S. It was voted instead to refer the whole matter for reconsideration to a committee which could either be the new executive committee or an ad hoc committee specially appointed and should propose appropriate criteria of eligibility for international membership. On a ballot's being taken a majority of votes (49 to 21) were cast in favour of this task's being undertaken by the new executive committee.

(6) Minutes of the last General Assembly

The President stated that the minutes of the last General Assembly (London, Ontario, 1975) had been printed in Synthese 32 (1975), 250-265. The minutes were then adopted.

(7a) President's Report

The President spoke about the growth of the Division, and about recent activities under its aegis. He emphasised the need to spread the geographical range of these activities, and the ability of the Division to sponsor rather more conferences and symposia than it was at present doing. He encouraged organisers of such international meetings to apply for the Division's financial sponsorship. In connection with the administration of the Division he recommended a fresh scrutiny of the Division's statutes in case any of these needed revision, and he urged all national committees to ensure that the Secretary of the Division had an up-to-date record of their relevant addresses. The President also spoke very warmly of the work of the Chairmen and members of the Programme and Organising Committees. Their energetic efforts and friendly collaboration were responsible for the excellent way in which the present Congress had been organised. At the same time the Division was extremely grateful to the local sponsoring body -Deutsche Vereinigung für mathematische Logik und Grundlagenforschung der exakten Wissenschaften—and to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Lower Saxony Land which had provided such generous financial assistance.

(7b) Secretary's Report

Scholarly Activities of the Division

Since August 1975, seventeen international conferences, colloquia, symposia or summer schools have been sponsored by the Division: for details see appendix A. This compares with eighteen in the period between the IVth and Vth International Congresses. The Division has also continued its annual subvention to the Journal of Symbolic Logic. The policy of the Division has been to encourage academically responsible initiatives for the organisation of meetings by providing as generous a subsidy in each case as funds permit, within an overall policy of providing roughly equal support to logic and philosophy of science. During the period under review the Executive Committee has not in fact rejected any requests for sponsorship. It feels also that there is room for additional initiatives to be taken in the field of philosophy of science. As a move in this direction it would like to encourage appropriate bodies to organise a European Philosophy of Science Colloquium on a regular basis.

Cooperation with Other Organisations

Close and cordial contact has been maintained throughout the period between the Secretaries of the two Divisions, and we are glad to have with us at the present Congress the President (Professor A. T. Grigorian) and Secretary (Professor E. Forbes) of the Division of History of Science. The Joint Bureau of the two Divisions will meet in Hannover during the present Congress, and there has also been a great deal of informal communication between the various officers concerned. We have also maintained contacts with FISP. We were represented by our Past-President, Professor J. Hintikka, at the Xth World Congress of Philosophy in Düsseldorf in September 1978. We are happy to welcome a representative of FISP, Professor Jerzy Pelc, to the present Congress. The Secretary has represented IUHPS at the 1975, 1977, and 1978 meetings of the General Committee of the International Council of Scientific Unions, and at the 1978 meeting of ICSU's General Assembly, where he was elected Chairman of the Assembly's Finance Committee. ICSU has now appointed a committee to examine its structure, with a view to possible alterations in its constitution and financial policies, and IUHPS will need to keep a close eye on further developments in this area. ICSU is the main channel through which UNESCO subsidies flow to the eighteen international unions.

Meetings of the Executive Committee

The Executive Committee has sought to economise as much as possible in administrative expenditure. It has conducted most of its business by correspondence and has tried to synchronise its meetings with travel arrangements of members for other purposes, so far as possible. It has met four times during the period under review: once in August 1975 (during the Vth Congress) at London, Canada; once in July 1976 at Oxford, U.K.; once in March 1978, at Oxford, U.K., and once in August 1979, at Hannover (during the present Congress). At the 1978 and 1979 meetings one of the assessors, Professor Vadim Sadovsky, has deputised for the senior vice-president, Professor A. A. Markov, owing to the latter's ill health.

Action Taken to Implement Decisions of the 1975 General Assembly

Despite considerable correspondence on the subject a national committee for LMPS has not been re-established in Greece, and the membership of this country has therefore been terminated, in accordance with item 3 of the minutes of the last General Assembly. But the national committee for Chile has now been re-established. New national committees have been formed in Brazil, India and Mexico and the Executive Committee has tried to encourage the formation of national committees in certain other countries also. Now that the International Union of Biochemistry has found a way to enrol both the Chinese Biochemical Society and the Biochemical Society of Taipei among its members, we shall naturally look forward to a similar development within our own Division, provided that this can be achieved without any sacrifice of the relevant ICSU principles.

Bulletin

The Secretary has begun the publication of annual bulletins about the Division's activities in order to keep interested individuals in touch with what is going on at the international level. Three successive copies have so far appeared in Synthese and two have had Spanish translations in Teorema, by courtesy of the Editors of these journals. It is hoped to publish future copies also in the PSA Newsletter, by courtesy of its Editor, and in Studia Logica.

Constitution

Three relevant constitutional documents exist: one for IUHPS as a whole, and one for each of its Divisions. These constitutions have existed up to this year only in a French text. An English translation has now been prepared by Dr. F. Greenaway (previously secretary of DHS) with the assistance of the Secretary of DLMPS. In due course copies of the translation, alongside the original, will be circulated to national and international members for convenience of reference. According to the present provisions of each constitution, however, the French text will remain the authoritative one.

(9) Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer presented the report set out in Appendix B. He also notified all national delegations that, as a result of world inflationary pressures, the unit of dues would almost certainly have to be substantially increased in 1983.

(10) Budgetary Determinations

On behalf of the Executive Committee the President moved the usual motion authorising the new Executive Committee to make budgetary determinations in the interval until the next General Assembly. This motion was passed unanimously.

(11) Nominations of Officers

On behalf of the Executive Committee in its role as Nominations Committee, the President proposed the following for election for the period 1979-1983:

  • President: J. ŁoÅ› (Poland)
  • 1st Vice-President: W. Salmon (U.S.A.)
  • 2nd Vice-President: G. Müller (B.R.D.)
  • Secretary: L. J. Cohen (U.K.)
  • Treasurer: J.-E. Fenstad (Norway)
  • Past President, ex officio: P. Suppes (U.S.A.)
  • Assessors:
    • J.J.C. Smart (Australia)
    • P. Weingartner (Austria)
    • K. Berka (Czechoslovakia)
    • A. Levy (Israel)
    • E. Engeler (Switzerland)
    • V. A. Smirnov (U.S.S.R.)
  • Alternate Assessors:
    • I. Hacking (U.S.A.)
    • A. I. Arruda (Brazil)

The Assembly elected all these proposed candidates unanimously.

(12) The Next Congress

The delegate of the Romanian National Committee reported that the next Congress of the Division of History would take place in Bucharest, Romania, on August 26th to September 3rd, 1981. No formal invitations had been received for the 1983 Congress of DLMPS but the Executive Committee was expected to explore the possibility that the Congress might be held in Warsaw or Moscow.

The Executive Committee has set up an Evaluation Committee to consider the programme and structure of the Hannover Congress and to make proposals, in the light of these considerations, with regard to the 1983 Congress. The members of this Committee are Ernan McMullin (U.S.A.), Chairman, Karel Berka (Czechoslovakia) and Jacques Stern (France). Anyone who has any views to express on these matters is invited to write to the Chairman as soon as possible. His address is: Department of Philosophy, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, U.S.A.

APPENDIX A

  • Stuttgart, BRD, 1976: C. S. Peirce Congress 500 Organiser: C. Eisele
  • Jyväskylä, Finland, 1976: Fourth Scandinavian Logic Symposium 2000 Organiser: I. Niiniluoto
  • Campinas, Brazil, 1976: Third Latin-American Symposium on Mathematical Logic 1000 Organiser: R. Chuaqui
  • Oxford, U.K. 1976: Summer School on Mathematical Logic and ASL European Colloquium 1000 Organisers: R. O. Gandy and D. Scott
  • Oslo, Norway, 1977: Symposium on Generalised Recursion Theory 1000 Organiser: J.-E. Fenstad
  • Wroclaw, Poland, 1977: ASL European Colloquium 2000 Organiser: L. Pacholski
  • Erice, Sicily, 1977: International School of Logic and Scientific Methodology 1000 Organiser: A. Agazzi
  • London, Canada, 1977: Workshop on Sources of Modern Methodology 500 Organiser: R. Butts
  • Pisa, Italy, 1978: Second International Conference on History and Philosophy of Science 2000 Organiser: J. Hintikka
  • Mons, Belgium, 1978: ASL European Colloquium 1000 Organiser: M. Boffa
  • Oxford, U.K., 1978: Conference on the Apphcations of Inductive Logic 800 Organisers: M. Hesse and L. J. Cohen
  • Santiago, Chile, 1978: Fourth Latin American Symposium on Mathematical Logic 500 Organiser: R. Chuaqui
  • London, Canada, 1978: Workshop on Pragmatics and Conditionals 500 Organiser: G. A. Pearce
  • Bad Homburg, BRD, 1978 : Symposium on Dialectical versus Formal Logic 1500 Organiser: W. K. Essler
  • Aalborg, Denmark, 1979: Fifth Scandinavian Logic Symposium 500 Organiser: B. Mayoh
  • Leeds, U.K., 1979: ASL European Colloquium 1000 Organiser: F. R. Drake
  • Torun, Poland, 1979: Symposium on Practical and Philosophical Motivations for Non-Classical Logics 500 Organiser: R. Wójcicki

[Financial Appendix B to be added]