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    The reference of predicates like 'is a Democrat' must be ... — Carmelics
    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    The reference of predicates like 'is a Democrat' must be functions from objects to truth-values.

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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The reference of 'Barack Obama' is the man for which the name stands.
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    • 2.Reference is the power to affect truth-value.
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    • 3.Predicates like 'is a Democrat' combine with an object to yield a truth-value.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Predicates like 'is a Democrat' express properties or universals, not functions — Frege's extensional reduction conflates meaning with formal mapping.
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    • 2.Two predicates can share the same function from objects to truth-values yet differ in semantic content, as 'is a creature with a heart' and 'is a creature with kidneys' demonstrate.
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    • 3.Reference must distinguish co-extensive predicates to do genuine semantic work, which functions from objects to truth-values structurally cannot accomplish.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Predicates in natural language exhibit context-sensitivity and vagueness that resists assignment of any determinate function from objects to truth-values, as argued by epistemicists and contextualists like Timothy Williamson and Charles Travis.
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    • 2.If the reference of 'is a Democrat' were a fixed function, sentences containing it would have determinate truth-values independent of context, but borderline cases and contested membership show otherwise.
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    Topics

    Philosophy of LanguageTruth & Knowledge

    Related

    If the reference of 'is a Democrat' were a fixed function, sentences containing ...Predicates in natural language exhibit context-sensitivity and vagueness that re...Predicates like 'is a Democrat' combine with an object to yield a truth-value.Predicates like 'is a Democrat' express properties or universals, not functions ...
    +4 moreShow less
    Reference is the power to affect truth-value.Reference must distinguish co-extensive predicates to do genuine semantic work, ...The reference of 'Barack Obama' is the man for which the name stands.Two predicates can share the same function from objects to truth-values yet diff...

    Similar

    The reference of 'is a Democrat' is a function that returns true when ...82%The reference of 'is a Republican' is a function that returns true whe...82%Predicates like 'is a Democrat' combine with an object to yield a trut...81%If a sentence of the form 'a is F' is literally true and cannot be par...79%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: meaning
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    Again, the first of these is true, whereas the second is false. We already know that the reference of “Barack Obama” is the man for which the name stands; so, given that reference is power to affect truth-value, we know that the reference of predicates like “is a Democrat” and “is a Republican” must be something which combines with an object to yield a truth-value. Accordingly, it is natural to think of the reference of predicates of this sort as functions from objects to truth-values. The refer
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit