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Single Idea 10225

[filed under theme 5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 7. Second-Order Logic ]

Full Idea

Boolos has proposed an alternative understanding of monadic, second-order logic, in terms of plural quantifiers, which many philosophers have found attractive.

Gist of Idea

Monadic second-order logic might be understood in terms of plural quantifiers

Source

report of George Boolos (To be is to be the value of a variable.. [1984]) by Stewart Shapiro - Philosophy of Mathematics 3.5

Book Ref

Shapiro,Stewart: 'Philosophy of Mathematics:structure and ontology' [OUP 1997], p.105


The 11 ideas from 'To be is to be the value of a variable..'

The use of plurals doesn't commit us to sets; there do not exist individuals and collections [Boolos]
Monadic second-order logic might be understood in terms of plural quantifiers [Boolos, by Shapiro]
Second-order quantifiers are just like plural quantifiers in ordinary language, with no extra ontology [Boolos, by Shapiro]
We should understand second-order existential quantifiers as plural quantifiers [Boolos, by Shapiro]
Boolos invented plural quantification [Boolos, by Benardete,JA]
Boolos showed how plural quantifiers can interpret monadic second-order logic [Boolos, by Linnebo]
Any sentence of monadic second-order logic can be translated into plural first-order logic [Boolos, by Linnebo]
Identity is clearly a logical concept, and greatly enhances predicate calculus [Boolos]
Plural forms have no more ontological commitment than to first-order objects [Boolos]
First- and second-order quantifiers are two ways of referring to the same things [Boolos]
Does a bowl of Cheerios contain all its sets and subsets? [Boolos]