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Single Idea 12522
[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 5. Truth Bearers
]
Full Idea
Truth and falsehood belong, in propriety of speech, only to propositions; yet ideas are oftentimes termed 'true' or 'false ...though I think there is still some secret or tacit proposition.
Gist of Idea
It is propositions which are true or false, though it is sometimes said of ideas
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 2.32.01)
Book Ref
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.384
A Reaction
It is not quite clear, I think, what Locke means by 'proposition'. If it means sentences, then there are lots of problem cases like 'I am ill' (who is speaking?). I demand a theory of truth that allows animals to think truths. See Idea 12523.
Related Idea
Idea 12523
If they refer to real substances, 'man' is a true idea and 'centaur' a false one [Locke]
The
25 ideas
with the same theme
[sorts of items capable of truth and falsehood]:
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20823
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The truth bearers are said to be the signified, or the signifier, or the meaning of the signifier
[Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus]
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6021
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It is only when we say a proposition that we speak truly or falsely
[Sext.Empiricus]
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12522
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It is propositions which are true or false, though it is sometimes said of ideas
[Locke]
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12523
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If they refer to real substances, 'man' is a true idea and 'centaur' a false one
[Locke]
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12558
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Truth only belongs to mental or verbal propositions
[Locke]
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19389
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Truth is a characteristic of possible thoughts
[Leibniz]
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19388
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True and false seem to pertain to thoughts, yet unthought propositions seem to be true or false
[Leibniz]
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5644
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In Hegel's logic it is concepts (rather than judgements or propositions) which are true or false
[Hegel, by Scruton]
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8187
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Frege was strongly in favour of taking truth to attach to propositions
[Frege, by Dummett]
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6442
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Truth belongs to beliefs, not to propositions and sentences
[Russell]
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5784
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In its primary and formal sense, 'true' applies to propositions, not beliefs
[Russell]
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14102
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What is true or false is not mental, and is best called 'propositions'
[Russell]
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5419
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Truth and falsehood are properties of beliefs and statements
[Russell]
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17652
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Truth is irrelevant if no statements are involved
[Goodman]
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3745
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Must sentences make statements to qualify for truth?
[O'Connor]
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8188
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Davidson takes truth to attach to individual sentences
[Davidson, by Dummett]
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13942
|
Logicians take sentences to be truth-bearers for rigour, rather than for philosophical reasons
[Cartwright,R]
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13941
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Are the truth-bearers sentences, utterances, ideas, beliefs, judgements, propositions or statements?
[Cartwright,R]
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10845
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To be true a sentence must express a proposition, and not be ambiguous or vague or just expressive
[Lewis]
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2435
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Psychology has to include the idea that mental processes are typically truth-preserving
[Fodor]
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18369
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There are at least fourteen candidates for truth-bearers
[Kirkham]
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18996
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A statement S is 'partly true' if it has some wholly true parts
[Yablo]
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21616
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Truth and falsity apply to suppositions as well as to assertions
[Williamson]
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4737
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Are truth-bearers propositions, or ideas/beliefs, or sentences/utterances?
[Engel]
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15348
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Propositions have sentence-like structures, so it matters little which bears the truth
[Horsten]
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