Frank Hutson Gregory

“ Given that a certain universal is not a definition we can tell whether it is a value statement or an inductive hypotheses by certain key words that indicate values rather than objective facts about the real world. ”

“ Why not instead adopt the easier course of simply trying to translate each of the applications of mathematics?" In order to give the empirical/realist account we need not say that every statement of arithmetic is induced from observations of real world quantities. Nor need we say that the system of arithmetic is open to falsification, but is not in fact never falsified by the observation of real world quantities. ”

“ The Need for both Factual and Logical Truth Logical truths are true because of the way we have set up our language or system. Factual truth are true because of the way the world, the world which is not entirely an invention of the human mind, is. Two important points must be recognized about the relations between logical and factual truth. The first comes from David Hume and states that a factual truth cannot be derived from a logical truth. One cannot infer a factual statement from a set of statements all of which are logically true. ”

“ Language games By the 1940s Wittgenstein had changed his mind completely about the nature of language. In the Philosophical Investigations, which was not published until 1953, he produced an argument that was fatal to Logical Atomism, Logical Positivism and many of the ideas in his own Tractatus. This became known as "the private language argument". The private language argument shows that it is not possible for a language to refer to objects that only one person can, as a matter of logic, know about. Sense data are logically private because only one person can know his own sense data. ”

“ Understood as a language game the debate is not merely a mechanism for the analyst to learn what the clients think but creates an agreed framework of stipulative definitions. SSM conceptual models are not ideal for the logical expression of these definitions as they are limited by the fact that they employ only a single type of logical connective. However, more logical connectives can be added and a more powerful model, a Logico-linguistic Model, can be built using the same type of iterative debate. The Logico-linguistic model can be formally expressed in the propositional calculus. ”

“ Popper could be making the point that a rule of inference will only be valid if its use in an axiomatic system will not lead that system into inconsistency. That is, the use of a rule of inference will not lead to the production of any theorem and its contradictory. On this interpretation the theorem and its contradictory would be the counter example. But it seems unlikely that this is what Popper had in mind as this would not go far towards solving the usefulness problem. There are many consistent systems that have no relation to and no use in the real world. ”

“ If a term has been given an intensive definition we can establish the extension of the term empirically. Thus, if we intensively define "human limb" as any jointed appendage on the human body, then it can be established empirically that all human limbs are arms or legs. ”

“ CONCLUSION The problem of mapping information systems on to the real world is not as difficult as explaining mathematics. It is mainly a problem because is not recognized as the logical problem that it is. The tools of systems analysis, such as data flow diagrams and entity-relationship models, have very limited logical power. They are not sufficient to produce a system that will map on to the real world. However, most information system designers think they are adequate. Many designers have come to think like the systems they design. ”

“ The iterative debate is not just a passive process whereby the analyst gains knowledge, it is dynamic and creative.
The changes that can occur during the debate can be changes in values and changes in beliefs. Also there will be changes in the expression of beliefs, and it is this that is interesting in the context of language games. Through the conceptual model building process a consensus is built up about the way the problem situation can be described. This is a language game in which the stake-holders come to an agreement about what certain key terms will mean. ”

“ Value statements Value statements include statements about personal tastes, such as "all of Shakespeare's plays are rubbish", and moral statements, such as "everyone ought to give to charity". Value statements can be distinguished from factual statements by a number of logical and epistemological properties. Evidence can be used to support or falsify factual statements but not value judgements. "All swans are white" is given supportive evidence by the observation of more and more white swans, and it falsified by the observation of one black swan. ”

“ If we are to determine that something is a member of a class there must be some criterion for class inclusion that we use to make the determination. Alternatively if we are to determine a criterion for class inclusion then that criterion must be true of all members of the class, therefore, in order to make the determination we must have identified the members of the class. It can be concluded that any useful term or class that has a logical extension must have a factual and contingent intension; and any term or class that has a logical intension must have a factual and contingent extension. ”

“ INTRODUCTION The real world mapping problem is the problem of explaining how does a system that is an invention of the human mind help us to understand a world that is not? It is self evident that some systems of rules and definition, such as those that constitute the game of chess, do not help use to understand anything beyond themselves, others, such as mathematics, do. The real world mapping problem is the problem of understanding which systems will help us understand the real world and which will not. ”

“ Establishing how an analytic system, such as arithmetic, maps on to the real world is the subject of complex and contentious theory. In the case of a conceptual model, such as that represented in figure 3, we would need to establish a an instantiation for the object variable , i.e. that Socrates, or some other person, is discharged. Having established that Socrates is discharged, we can establish deductively that Socrates has had a treatment prescribed ”

“ The ideational account of meaning takes us back to the beginnings of Logical Atomism. There is, therefore, a danger that the information systems literature will start to rerun a futile debate that began in the 20s and finished in the 60s. This will not be necessary if due attention is given to the legacy of Wittgenstein. Understood as a language game the SSM iterative debate provides both a firm theoretical foundation and a powerful practical tool for the development of information systems. Computer systems are rule bound and formal. ”

“ Each member of the tribe has a tally stick onto which beads are threaded. When a tribe member is given a goat, or when one of his goats gives birth, a new bead is threaded on to the owners tally stick. When one of his goats dies a bead is taken off the owner's tally stick. We can imagine that in the tribe social prestige and privilege is the determined by the number of goats that a person owns. Given this the tally system will be useful. It can be determined who has the most goats by placing different owners' tally sticks side by side. ”

“ Kafka's world is of nebulous systems populated by hapless individuals; a system which everyone assents to but which nobody, including the officials, can seem to understand. Kafka's works are generally considered to be a disturbing view of life and society. They are not, like Orwell's 1984, considered to be prophetic. Yet it is Kafka that seems to be becoming an appropriate model for modern information systems. The connection between Kafka and work in the area of information systems has already been noted by Probert (1991) who argues that some aspects of Soft Systems Methodology are Kafkaesque. ”

“ Abstract A number of logical problems in conceptual modelling can be solved by expressing the models in the form of universal statements. This leads to distinguishing two type of conceptual model, those used in main stream SSM and those used in Multiview, on the basis of whether the universals are definitions or inductive hypotheses. The models can be formulated in the predicate calculus and these formulations can be converted into the rules of Knowledge Based Systems. ”

“ There is another way to determine the number of apples in the bucket and this is by counting them. We can take an apple out of the bucket and say "one", then we can then take another apple out and say "two" and so forth. When there are no more apples left in the bucket we know we have counted them all. Let us call this the "counting method". The contention that arithmetic, understood in the constructivist sense, applies to reality is the contention that the calculation and counting methods will always give the same results. ”

“ ABSTRACT Subjectivist theories of meaning inhibit the use of axiomatic systems in information system design. Wittgenstein held that language and meaning were primarily public and that a private, purely subjective, language was impossible. The iterative debate among stake-holders that takes place in the practice of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) can be understood as a Wittgensteinian language game in which meaning is created not just discovered. The conceptual models used in SSM can be developed into Logico-linguistic Models which express stipulative definitions. ”