INTRODUCTIONRetrospective analysis of the history of philosophy shows that the problems of logic and language were constantly in the focus of investigations at least for some philosophical schools. Success and failure accompany these investigations. There are many reasons for them. The intensive progress of sciences in our country demands the revaluation of our understanding of the problems solved by ourselves. The differentiation of sciences discovered many hidden properties of the investigated objects. But the reconstruction of their pictures demands the integration of knowledge. The study of logic in close connection with language by many philosophers especially of our country led to many tremendous achievements. But we are now obliged to notice that it is necessary to include in this system another component too- the component of argumentation. The philosophical view on the relation of logic, argumentation and language can discover their unity and also such layers on each component which remain hidden when logic, argumentation and language are studied isolated.
As philosophy becomes a tool, or saying philosophically — the methodology of investigation we need to begin with study of the very nature of philosophical knowledge. The first chapter of this book is devoted to that problem. There are considered here the place of philosophy in knowledge, its differences from other kinds of knowledge, its functions (such as Methodological, outlook, etc.), the specificity of philosophical proofs, the relationship between philosophy and special sciences, the conceptualisation in philosophy. Analysing the possibility of metaphilosophy the author comes to the conclusion that if it is possible and even necessary to have the reflection of metatheory in every science (metamathematics, metalogic, metabiology, etc.), metaphilosophy is an empty set. This conclusion is determined by specificities of philosophical knowledge. Like any theory philosophy may be presented as language. The first chapter of the book is completed with analysis of the specificity of the language of philosophy, its semantics and syntax.
When many philosophers and logicians during many years discussed the priority of this or that logical system (traditional or dialectical or mathematical, etc.), the author of this book has worked out the conception of polylogic (the very term wasn't used before it primarily appeared in the author's article published in the Mind, (Brutian 1968)). Analysing this problem in the second chapter the author comes to the conclusion that different logical systems (sciences) usually do not neglect one another as they discover different layers of the forms of thought. The logicians must bring together the results of different logical systems of the basis of methodological understanding of the principle of complementary. Such investigation can more or less reconstruct the complete picture of a phenomenon which is known as logical thinking. Two criteria for classification of logical systems are offered in this chapter. One of them is the character of language on the basis of which the logical system is constructed. The other criterion is the levels of abstraction from the content of forms of thought. The conclusive part of the second chapter is devoted to the analysis of transformational (transformatory) logic which is offered by the author of this book and which is called to solve some problems discussed or interpreted by different logicians in different ways but not always in an equivalent way.
The next (third) chapter of the book shows that logic being a strong tool of human mental relations is not sufficient only in itself for such interaction. The equivalent human dialogue needs in argumentation where logic is one of the main components to be modified according to the co-ordinates of the new system. Not only logic but the other elements of human communication included in the system of argumentative dialogue need a modification. That is why the above mentioned chapter of the book begins with the study of explication of the main concepts of argumentation. As the very structure of the argumentative discourse is now the object of discussion the author of this book analyses the characteristics of argumentation and especially the place and role of logical component in argumentation.
The language of argumentation has its study of the problem of translatability in argumentation. The third chapter of the book is completed with the study of philosophical argumentation.
The fourth (last) chapter of the book is devoted to the problem of the role of language in the reconstruction of the picture of the world. The possibility to have two models of the world - conceptual and language models is analysed; their role in the knowledge of reality is demonstrated. The critical analysis of the principle of linguistic relativity of Sapir-Wharf leads the author to suggest a new principle-the principle of linguistic complementarity.
The ideas described in this book had been discussed by the author with his colleagues at XII-XVIII World Philosophical Congresses (Italy, Mexico, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Canada, England), in international congresses in Armenia, Belgium, Finland, France, The Netherlands, etc., in his lectures in the universities of Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, England, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, USA, etc. These discussions helped the author to a greater degree in the further development of his conceptions. The author expresses cordial thanks to all the participants in these discussions as well as to the publishers of this book who give a new opportunity for further discussions of the authors ideas.
G. Brutian
