Descriptive interpretation
- See also: Formal interpretation, Logical interpretation
A formal interpretation is a descriptive interpretation (also called a factual interpretation) if at least one of the undefined symbols of its formal system becomes, in the interpretation, a descriptive sign (i.e., the name of single objects, or observable properties).
Rudolf Carnap, in his Introduction to Semantics makes a distinction between formal interpretations which are logical interpretations (also called mathematical interpretation or logico-mathematical interpretation) and descriptive interpretations. A formal interpretation is a descriptive interpretation if it is not a logical interpretation.
Attempts to axiomatize the empirical sciences use a descriptive interpretation to model reality. The aim of these attempts is to construct a formal system for which reality is the only interpretation. The world is an interpretation (or model) of these sciences, only insofar as these sciences are true.[1]
Sources
- ^ The Concept and the Role of the Model in Mathematics and Natural and Social Sciences
- Carnap, Rudolf, Introduction to Symbolic Logic and its Applications
- Carnap, Rudolf, Introduction to Semantics