Single Idea 18056

[catalogued under 2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 8. Category Mistake / d. Category mistake as pragmatic]

Full Idea

I am assuming that even in those contexts in which the presupposition of 'the number two is green' fails and the utterance is infelicitious, it nevertheless receives a bivalent truth-value (presumably 'false').

Gist of Idea

Category mistakes because of presuppositions still have a truth value (usually 'false')

Source

Ofra Magidor (Category Mistakes [2013], 5.4.1)

Book Reference

Magidor,Ofra: 'Category Mistakes' [OUP 2013], p.132


A Reaction

It seems to me obvious that, in normal contexts, 'the number two is green' is false, rather than meaningless. Is 'the number eight is an odd number' meaningless?