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    If reference does not entail existence, then a sentence r... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→On the fictionalist view, (P) is strictly speaking untrue.

    If reference does not entail existence, then a sentence referring to Gness is not automatically untrue merely because Gness lacks being in the nominalist's inventory.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.We successfully use empty-referent sentences (e.g., 'Sherlock Holmes is clever') with determinate truth conditions without ontological commitment.
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    • 2.Nominalism's inventory restrictions don't constrain what linguistic expressions can meaningfully refer to or describe.
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    • 3.Truth-conditions can be assigned via abstract reference schemes (fictional contexts, pretense frameworks) without positing entities.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.If 'Gness' refers to nothing in any inventory, the sentence lacks a semantic value—reference failure entails truth-value gap, not indeterminate truth.
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    • 2.Nominalists reject abstract objects; treating Gness-sentences as true anyway requires covert commitment to propositions or abstract reference conditions.
      ?

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    • 3.Decoupling reference from existence removes the constraint preventing contradictory sentences about non-existent objects from being equally true.
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    Related

    Decoupling reference from existence removes the constraint preventing contradict...If 'Gness' refers to nothing in any inventory, the sentence lacks a semantic val...Nominalism's inventory restrictions don't constrain what linguistic expressions ...Nominalists reject abstract objects; treating Gness-sentences as true anyway req...
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    On the fictionalist view, (P) is strictly speaking untrue.Truth-conditions can be assigned via abstract reference schemes (fictional conte...We successfully use empty-referent sentences (e.g., 'Sherlock Holmes is clever')...

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    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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