Single Idea 19052

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 2. Logical Connectives / c. not]

Full Idea

Natural language does not possess a sentential negation-operator.

Gist of Idea

Natural language 'not' doesn't apply to sentences

Source

Michael Dummett (Presupposition [1960], p.27)

Book Reference

Dummett,Michael: 'Truth and Other Enigmas' [Duckworth 1978], p.27


A Reaction

This is a criticism of Strawson, who criticises logic for not following natural language, but does it himself with negation. In the question of how language and logic connect, this idea seems important. Term Logic aims to get closer to natural language.

Related Idea

Idea 19053 Logic would be more natural if negation only referred to predicates [Dummett]