Why Axiomatize?

(definitional) and axiomatic theories. 2. Various philosophical and semantical theories are candidates for axiomatization (but not all, e.g. coherence, pragmatic, fuzzy theories). NB: axiomatizations are not uniquely determined. 3. Only a few properties (e.g. T-scheme, compositionality) are uppermost in one’s mind in spelling out phil. and sem. theories. Axiomatizing them brings out the consequent properties in full. Why Axiomatize? (cont’d) 4. Axiomatic theories separate out the properties of a semantical construction from what is needed to justify that construction (e.g., set theory). 5. An axiomatization, if not of a sem. construction, can be proved consistent by providing a model