Re-examination of Ontological and Epistemological Concepts Based on the Logico-semantical Studies of Japanese

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The aim of our research was to re-examine the traditional philosophical concepts in the light of the investigation of the logico-semantical aspects of Japanese. Towards that end, we used the methods that have been developed in formal semantics. The main results of our research are as follows:1. In philosophical tradition, the studies of a natural language have been conducted under an influential trichotomy, which is constituted by syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Our research of Japanese semantics has made it clear that this trichotomy is not appropriate to explain various semantical phenomena.2. However, we must admit that we do not have a framework alternative to the traditional trichotomy. We have made some suggestions about how to mark the new boundary between semantics and pragmatics.3. We suggested that the study of certain class of Japanese adjectives can shed light towards the traditional epistemological problems, especially the problem of other minds.4. We investigated the Japanese expressions for quantification and made some suggestions as to the relation between a semantics of such expressions and the ontological problems, especially the problem of "ontological commitments".