Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:58:23.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Propositions for Semantics and Propositions for Epistemology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

N.L. Wilson
N.L. Wilson*
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The title is an allusion to the fact that, traditionally, propositions have served at least two distinct functions in philosophy, even though these functions have not usually been distinguished. Propositions have been invoked as the ‘meanings’ or ‘intensions’ of sentences and as the objects of propositional attitudes. Thus the proposition that Socrates is wise is the meaning of the English sentence, ‘Socrates is wise,’ and is what Charles believes when he believes that Socrates is wise. ‘Means that’ and ‘believes that’ take the same kind of object. I shall argue, first, that there are two quite different functions here and it takes two quite different kinds of proposition to serve these distinct functions. The second thing I want to do is examine the suggestion that we can treat propositions as sets of possible worlds. There is a serious difficulty here, and so I shall want to turn that idea on its side: I shall define possible worlds as sets of G-propositions (semantical propositions) and then define E-propositions (epistemic propositions) as sets of possible worlds.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 1984 , pp. 375 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] Adams, R.M. ‘Theories of Actuality,’ Noûs, 8 (1974) 211-31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2] Carnap, Rudolf Introduction to Semantics, Studies in Semantics, Vol. I (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1942)Google Scholar
[3] Carnap, Rudolf ·Meaning and Necessity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1947)Google Scholar
[4] Church, Alonzo ‘On Carnap's Analysis of Statements of Assertion and Belief,’ Analysis, 10 (1950) 97-9. Reprinted in Linsky, Leonard ed., Reference and Modality (London: Oxford University Press 1971) 168-70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5] Goodman, Nelson The Structure of Appearance (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1951)Google Scholar
[6] Kaplan, David ‘Quantifying In,’ Synthese, 19 (1968-69) 178–214. Reprinted in Davidson, Donald and Hintikka, Jaakko eds., Words and Objections (Boston: Reidel 1969) 206-42. Also reprinted in Linsky, Leonard ed., Reference and Modality (London: Oxford University Press 1971) 112-44.10.1007/BF00568057CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7] Kripke, Saul ‘Semantical Considerations on Modal Logic,’ Acta Philosophica Fennica, 16 (1963) 83–94. Reprinted in Linsky, Leonard ed., Reference and Modality (London: Oxford University Press 1971).Google Scholar
[8] Lewis, C.I. An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation (La Salle: Open Court 1946)Google Scholar
[9] Quine, W.V. ‘Notes on Existence and Necessity.’ Journal of Philosophy, 50 (1943) 113-27. Reprinted in Linsky, ed., Semantics and Philosophy of Language (Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1952) 77–91.10.2307/2017458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10] Quine, W.V.. ‘Qauntifiers and Propositional Attitudes.’ Journal of Philosophy, 53 (1956) 177-87. Page references here are to the reprint in W.V. Quine The Ways of Paradox (New York: Random Huse 1966) 183-94. Also reprinted in Linsky, L. ed., Reference and Modality (London: Oxford University Press 1971) 101-11.10.2307/2022451CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11] Quine, W.V.. ‘Intensions Revisted,’ in French, P.A. Uehling, and Wettstein, eds., Contemporary Perspectives in the Philosophy of Language (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1979) 5–11.Google Scholar
[12] Sleigh, Robert ‘On a Proposed System of Epistemic Logic,’ Nails, 2 (1968) 391-98Google Scholar
[13] Smullyan, Arthur F.. ‘Modality and Description.’ Journal of Symbolic Logic, 13 (1948) 31-7. Reprinted in Linsky, L. ed., Reference and Modality (London: Oxford University Press 1971) 35–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[14] Stalnaker, Robert ‘Possible Worlds,’ Noûs, 10 (1976) 67–75Google Scholar
[15] Stalnaker, Robert ‘Propositions,’ in Mackay, and Merrill, eds., Issues in the Philosophy of Language (New Haven: Yale University Press 1976) 79–91Google Scholar
[16] Wilson, N.L. The Concept of Language (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1959)Google Scholar
[17] Wilson, N.L.. ‘Substances without Substrata,’ Review of Metaphysics, 12 (1959) 522-39Google Scholar
[18] Wilson, N.L.. ‘Color Qualities and Reference to Them,’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2 (1972) 145-69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19] Wilson, N.L.. The Ontology of General Semantics,’ Xerox 1979Google Scholar
[20] Wilson, N.L. ‘Ontology and General Semantics,’ Noûs, 12 (1978) 41–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar