This bulletin was published in Synthese Volume 18 No. 1 (1968) 121-129, DOI 10.1007/BF00869603.
The Executive Committee of the Division is composed of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
The meeting was called to order by the President, Professor Y. Bar-Hillel at 8:10 p.m., in the Congrescentrum Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam.
The President asked the Secretary to proceed at once with the verification of delegates. The following delegates responded. (The category of each member is indicated in parentheses.)
National Members
International Members
It was moved by Mr. Kleene that the following be accepted for national membership in the categories indicated (these categories having been recommended by the National Committees involved, and endorsed by the Council), and that the delegates listed below (nominated by the respective National Committees) be seated for the present meeting of the General Assembly:
The motion, seconded by Mr. Montague, carried.
The application of the Philosophy of Science Association for international membership was brought to the attention of the Assembly by the President. Although the membership of the Philosophy of Science Association has been international since its inception 30 years ago, the Governing Board has been dominated largely by members from the United States. For this reason some doubts were expressed about the Association's eligibility for international membership at the present. But in view of the Association's avowed intent to become a truly international organization in the near future (by electing an international Governing Board, and continuing to sponsor international meetings such as that to be held in Pittsburgh in October 1968) Mr. Kleene made the following motion: that the Association be accepted provisionally as an international member of the DLMPS, and that the Executive Committee be empowered to make the decision as to when or whether the international membership requirements of the Statutes of the DLMPS, such as those satisfied by the Association of Symbolic Logic, have been met. He included in his motion that if the conditions were deemed to have been met, then (a) the Association should have three votes in the General Assembly, and (b) the Association should pay four units of dues. The motion, seconded by Mr. Martin, carried.
The Minutes of the General Assembly held in Jerusalem, Israel, on August 31, 1964, were approved without amendment.
The President began by expressing regret for the absence from the present Assembly of his predecessor, Professor von Wright, whom he thanked in absentia for his help in assuming the duties of the Presidency. He also expressed the general satisfaction felt by DLMPS with the admission of five new national members, which help to fill the gaps in the membership of DLMPS.
He mentioned two problems of importance: (a) that there are nations with vigorous activities in the areas of interest to DLMPS which are still not members, and (b) that there are other nations with vigorous activities in other scientific fields, but with little or no development in logic or philosophy of science. He requested the delegates present to do what they could to encourage the development of appropriate national committees, and national interests.
He concluded by expressing the hope that future meetings of our International Congresses might be more closely related to the meetings of the Division of History of Science.
The Secretary reported on the scientific activities of the Division since the last General Assembly on August 31, 1964 (details are contained in Part HI of these Communications). He also called attention to the following:
The Treasurer reported on the financial affairs of the Division as of December 31, 1966. This report is given as Part IV of these Communications.
Mr. Martin moved that the unit of dues remain unchanged, i.e., $50 per unit. The motion, seconded by Mr. Poznanski, carried.
The President reported that certain national and international organizations had failed to meet some of the requirements for membership in DLMPS, and in accordance with Article 4 of the Statuts de la Division, were liable for expulsion. It was not possible to vote on particular cases, because the delegates to the present Assembly had not been notified four months in advance (as required by the Statutes). But the President requested that the Executive Committee be empowered to address polite but firm letters to the organizations involved, and to place before the next General Assembly some specific recommendations. A motion to this effect was made by Mr. Kleene, and seconded by Mr. Hintikka. It carried.
(for the period from the end of this meeting until the end of the next General Assembly). — Mr. Kleene moved that the number of votes of international members remain unchanged. The motion, seconded by Mr. Hintikka, carried.
Mr. Hintikka moved that the dues of the International Academy, the Institute for the Unity of Science, and the International Society for Significs remain unchanged, i.e., $50 per year; and that dues for the Association for Symbolic Logic also remain at $800 annually. The motion, seconded by Mr. McMullin, carried.
Mr. Mates moved that the Executive Committee be delegated to make the budget determination for the period extending to the next General Assembly. The motion, seconded by Mr. Körner, carried.
The Executive Committee recommended the following slate of officers for the 3-year period, 1969-1971:
- President: S. Körner
- Vice-President: A.A. Markov
- Secretary: A.R. Anderson
- Treasurer: J.F. Staal.
There were no additional nominations; the Secretary was instructed to register an unanimous vote for these officers. The Executive Committee recommended the nomination of the following six persons as candidates for the four positions as assessors:
A. Borgers, M. Bunge, J. Hintikka, A. Joja, M. Rabin, and K. Yoshida.
There were in addition three nominations from the floor:
A. Gregorczyk, H. Hiż, and D. Prawitz.
Ballots were distributed, and Mr. Martin and Mr. Montague were appointed as tellers. As a result of the ballot, the President announced that M. Bunge, A. Gregorczyk, J. Hintikka, and M. Rabin had been elected as the four assessors for the period 1969-1971, with K. Yoshida and A. Joja as successive alternates.
The President pointed out that we had two invitations for the next International Congress, one from the National Committee for DLMPS of Monaco, and the other from the National Academy of Roumania. Mr. Grinda spoke on behalf of the Monacan delegation, and Mr. Joja on behalf of Roumania. There was some discussion of the merits of having the Congress in Monaco or Roumania, after which a vote was taken by ballot, with Mr. Anderson and Mr. Freudenthal appointed as tellers. The result of the balloting showed 29 votes for Roumania, and 22 for Monaco; the President accordingly announced that the next Congress would take place in Roumania, and expressed the hope that a meeting might be held in Monaco at a later date.
The President then raised the question as to the time of the next Congress, offering several arguments for the view that 1971 would be preferable to 1970: (1) It would simplify some administrative matters if the incoming officers and assessors could assume their duties on the first day of the year following their election. This aim could be achieved by meeting in 1971, and then regularly every 3 years thereafter. (2) It might also (and more importantly) enable us to regularize our relations with our sister Division in the IUHPS, since it would be possible, with cooperation on both sides, for the DHS to have their triennial Congresses in the same year as the DLMPS from 1971 on, at places and times which might allow for a symposium on topics of interest to both Divisions to be held between the two Congresses.
Mr. Destouches pointed out, however, that some nations might have difficulties obtaining financial support for two International Congresses (with such apparently closely allied interests) in the same year — a sentiment that was shared by Mr. Tarski.
It was also pointed out by Mr. Kleene and Mr. Tarski that the sources for covering expenses involved in attending a large congress (such as that of the mathematicians in 1970), would make it possible to attend in addition a smaller meeting near at hand at a relatively minor increase in cost.
The President then said that it was not clear that the latter aims could be satisfied by having our next Congress in 1970, since International Congresses of Philosophy are held every 5 years, International Congresses of Mathematics every 4 years, and DLMPS (like DHS) is committed to a 3-year cycle; to which Mr. Montague replied that we should separate the question into two parts: (1) whether the next Congress should be held in 1970 or 1971, and (2) whether we were committed to a 3-year cycle.
The separation having been by common consent effected, Mr. Lacombe suggested that we meet in 1971 on the grounds that such a meeting would not coincide with a mathematical congress in 1970, and might thus enable us to try for closer intellectual and scientific collaboration with DHS.
The question was then raised by Mr. Mates as to whether the possibilities of having meetings of DHS and DLMPS in near spatio-temporal vicinity was likely to be realized, to which Mr. Freudenthal replied that the DHS had large numbers of invitations for their Congresses, and could (with good will) no doubt accommodate the DLMPS as regards time and place of their respective Congresses.
In view of the various views expressed it is hardly surprising that a first show-of-hands vote showed 23 delegates in favor of 1970, and 23 in favor of 1971; a second show-of-hands vote (designed to disconfirm the first) also showed a tie at 23 to 23; and a third vote by ballot also showed a tie. The President was reluctantly required by Article 14 of the Statuts to decide the question in accord with his own opening remarks; the next International Congress will take place in 1971 (in Roumania, as already decided).
Mr. Montague moved that a vote of thanks to both Monaco and Roumania be recorded in the minutes; the motion passed with gratitude and unanimity.
Several meetings are in the planning stage for 1968; dates and programs are still tentative but it is expected that the DLMPS will support the following:
In addition plans are under way for a small colloquium on logic to be held in Sweden in 1969; organizers pro tem: D. Føllesdal, S. Halldén, K. J. J. Hintikka, and S. Kanger. Y. Bar-Hillel and others are also looking into the possibility of a conference on the Philosophy of Language, to be held in Israel, 1969.
Mr. Mostowski brought before the Assembly a proposal to create, or at any rate to help subsidize, an abstracting journal devoted to the philosophy of science. The suggestion (from Professor Kotarbinska) envisaged the prompt publication of at least the titles of new books and journal articles, designed to assist researchers in the increasingly difficult task of keeping up with current literature. Mr. Craig commented on the difficulty and expense involved in providing such a service, and noted that for some areas in the philosophy of science the review section of the Journal of Symbolic Logic (together with Mathematical Reviews and the Zentralblatt für Mathematik) already provided the required service. Mr. McMullin observed that a review journal published in Louvain contained much of the material needed, and Mr. Anderson noted that a new journal, The Philosopher's Index (edited by Richard H. Lineback of Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.A.) should also be of assistance. No official action was taken, but the sense of the meeting seemed to be that the DLMPS was unable at the moment to give more than token support to such a project.
Mr. Montague moved a vote of thanks to our host country and to the organizers of the Congress for the excellence of the arrangements; the motion carried unanimously.
The General Assembly was adjourned by the President at 10:45 p.m.
Note: Results of I and III above are now in press, and negotiations for publishing the outcome of III are now under way. Abstracts of papers presented at IV above are to be published in the Journal of Symbolic Logic, and about 20 of the papers are to be published in full as Colloquium Proceedings by the North-Holland Publishing Co. Contributions to V will be published under the title Quantum Theory and Reality by Springer-Verlag. Proceedings of VI, edited by B. van Rootselaar and J.F. Staal, are to be published by the North-Holland Publishing Co.
[Financial Report to be added]