Single Idea 1610

[catalogued under 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / b. Commitment of quantifiers]

Full Idea

To be assumed as an entity is to be reckoned as the value of a variable. This amounts roughly to saying that to be is to be in the range of reference of a pronoun.

Gist of Idea

To be is to be the value of a variable, which amounts to being in the range of reference of a pronoun

Source

Willard Quine (On What There Is [1948], p.13)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.13


A Reaction

Cf. Idea 7784.

Related Idea

Idea 7784 'Object' is a pseudo-concept, properly indicated in logic by the variable x [Wittgenstein]