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Single Idea 10789

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 3. Predicate Nominalism ]

Full Idea

Nominalists have the major task of explaining how predicates work. They usually construct it as a relation between individuals, or deny the referential function of predicates.

Gist of Idea

Nominalists say predication is relations between individuals, or deny that it refers

Source

Ruth Barcan Marcus (Nominalism and Substitutional Quantifiers [1978], p.163)

Book Ref

'Philosophy of Logic: an anthology', ed/tr. Jacquette,Dale [Blackwell 2002], p.163

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The 13 ideas from 'Nominalism and Substitutional Quantifiers'

10785

Maybe a substitutional semantics for quantification lends itself to nominalism [Marcus (Barcan)]

10786

Anything which refers tends to be called a 'name', even if it isn't a noun [Marcus (Barcan)]

10788

Nominalists see proper names as a main vehicle of reference [Marcus (Barcan)]

10787

Is being just referent of the verb 'to be'? [Marcus (Barcan)]

10789

Nominalists say predication is relations between individuals, or deny that it refers [Marcus (Barcan)]

10790

Quantifiers are needed to refer to infinitely many objects [Marcus (Barcan)]

10791

Substitutional semantics has no domain of objects, but place-markers for substitutions [Marcus (Barcan)]

10796

If objects are thoughts, aren't we back to psychologism? [Marcus (Barcan)]

10795

Substitutional language has no ontology, and is just a way of speaking [Marcus (Barcan)]

10794

The nominalist is tied by standard semantics to first-order, denying higher-order abstracta [Marcus (Barcan)]

10798

A true universal sentence might be substitutionally refuted, by an unnamed denumerable object [Marcus (Barcan)]

10797

Substitutivity won't fix identity, because expressions may be substitutable, but not refer at all [Marcus (Barcan)]

10799

Nominalists should quantify existentially at first-order, and substitutionally when higher [Marcus (Barcan)]