@article {3148393, title = {Busting a myth about Le{\'s}niewski and definitions}, journal = {History and philosophy of logic}, volume = {33}, number = {2}, year = {2012}, pages = {159{\textendash}189}, abstract = {

A theory of definitions which places the eliminability and conservativeness requirements on definitions is usually called the standard theory. We examine a persistent myth which credits this theory to Lesniewski, a Polish logician. After a brief survey of its origins, we show that the myth is highly dubious. First, no place in Lesniewski{\textquoteright}s published or unpublished work is known where the standard conditions are discussed. Second, Lesniewski{\textquoteright}s own logical theories allow for creative definitions. Third, Lesniewski{\textquoteright}s celebrated {\textquoteright}rules of definition{\textquoteright} lay merely syntactical restrictions on the form of definitions: they do not provide definitions with such meta-theoretical requirements as eliminability or conservativeness. On the positive side, we point out that among the Polish logicians, in the 1920s and 1930s, a study of these meta-theoretical conditions is more readily found in the works of Lukasiewicz and Ajdukiewicz.

}, issn = {0144-5340}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01445340.2011.583771}, author = {Urbaniak, Rafal and H{\"a}m{\"a}ri, K Severi} }