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    The singular term argument for propositions is more power... — Carmelics
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    The singular term argument for propositions is more powerful than the singular term argument for mathematical objects

    Philosophy of LanguageTruth & Knowledge
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.There are established programs for paraphrasing statements of mathematics (paraphrase nominalism)
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    • 2.There are no obvious strategies for paraphrasing ordinary belief ascriptions of the form 'S believes that p'
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Paraphrases of belief ascriptions using sentential operators (e.g., Quine's 'believes-true') eliminate the need for propositional singular terms.
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    • 2.If sententialist strategies (Davidson, Quine) successfully reparse 'S believes that p' without quantifying over propositions, the paraphrase asymmetry collapses.
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    • 3.The existence of serious, contested paraphrase programs for propositional attitudes undermines the claim that no strategies exist for eliminating proposition-names.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Mathematical singular terms occur in canonical scientific theories whose indispensability is argued by Quine-Putnam, giving them stronger ontological pressure than propositional terms.
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    • 2.Propositional singular terms are primarily artifacts of mentalistic folk psychology, which eliminativists like Churchland argue is a defective framework slated for revision.
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    • 3.If the theoretical framework generating propositional singular terms is itself eliminable, those terms carry less ontological weight than mathematical terms embedded in confirmed physics.
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    Philosophy of LanguageTruth & Knowledge

    Related

    If sententialist strategies (Davidson, Quine) successfully reparse 'S believes t...If the theoretical framework generating propositional singular terms is itself e...Mathematical singular terms occur in canonical scientific theories whose indispe...Paraphrases of belief ascriptions using sentential operators (e.g., Quine's 'bel...
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    Propositional singular terms are primarily artifacts of mentalistic folk psychol...The existence of serious, contested paraphrase programs for propositional attitu...There are established programs for paraphrasing statements of mathematics (parap...There are no obvious strategies for paraphrasing ordinary belief ascriptions of ...

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    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: platonism
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    This version of the singular term argument might seem even more powerful than the mathematical-object version of the singular term argument sketched in section 4.1, because in this case, it doesn't seem that there is as much room for paraphrase nominalism. We saw in section 4.1 that there are a number of programs for paraphrasing the statements of mathematics, but there are no obvious strategies for paraphrasing ordinary belief ascriptions. One might think this could be done by taking senten
    Extraction notes

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    Details

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