''Semantic Analysis'' is a
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...
written by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
Paul Ziff
(Robert) Paul Ziff (22 October 1920 in New York City – 9 January 2003 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) was an American artist and philosopher specializing in semantics and aesthetics.
Life and Career
He was born in New York City in 1920 t ...
. It was first published in 1960 but has been reprinted at least four times since.
Synopsis
The book is, as the title suggests, about a
semantic analysis of
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, and particularly the word "Good" as it is used in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
Composition
The book is written in a large number of numbered paragraphs 246 to be exact. It also includes a short preface. The writing style is thus similar to
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
The ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (widely abbreviated and cited as TLP) is a book-length philosophical work by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein which deals with the relationship between language and reality and aims to define the ...
. The book has six chapters (Language, Semantic Analysis, Conditions, Truth Conditions, Meaning, The Word 'Good'), a bibliography and an index.
References
*Paul Ziff, "Semantic Analysis, 1960, Cornell University Press
External links
*Paul Benacerraf, "Review: Paul Ziff, Semantic Analysis", Journal of Symbolic Logic, Volume 29, Issue 4 (1964), 193–194
review at projecteuclid.org
Books in semantics
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