Introduction

Part I of this book concerns the paper “On the establishment of scientific semantics” presented by Alfred Tarski on 1935-09-19 at the First International Congress of Scientific PhilosophyFirst International Congress of Scientific Philosophy, held in Paris, France. The paper was subsequently published in German in the conference proceedings and in Polish in the leading Polish philosophy journal. Chapter  2 describes the paper’s historical and theoretical importance. Chapter  3 outlines it analytically. Chapter  4 comments on it in detail. Chapter  5 describes and assesses the reported immediate reaction of Tarski’s audience. Chapter  6 compares the German-language and Polish-language versions of the published paper, identifying 22 substantive differences. Chapter  7 states the principles guiding our translation of the two versions of the paper. Chapter  8 displays those translations side by side, to facilitate comparison. An Appendix lists the differences between the terms used to translate the German version of the paper and the terms used in its previous English translation, with the German original supplied in each case.