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Single Idea 13763

[filed under theme 19. Language / D. Propositions / 4. Mental Propositions ]

Full Idea

Spoken sounds are symbols of affections in the soul, ...and just as written marks are not the same for all men, neither are spoken sounds. But what these are in the first place signs of - affections of the soul - are the same for all.

Gist of Idea

Spoken sounds vary between people, but are signs of affections of soul, which are the same for all

Source

Aristotle (On Interpretation [c.330 BCE], 16a03-08)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Categories and De Interpretatione', ed/tr. Ackrill,J.R. [OUP 1963], p.43

A Reaction

Loux identifies this passage as the source of the 'conceptualist' view of propositions, which I immediately identify with. The view that these propositions are 'the same for all' is plausible for normal objects, but dubious for complex abstractions.

The 19 ideas from 'On Interpretation'

22272 Aristotle's later logic had to treat 'Socrates' as 'everything that is Socrates' [Potter on Aristotle]
2337 For Aristotle meaning and reference are linked to concepts [Aristotle, by Putnam]
13763 Spoken sounds vary between people, but are signs of affections of soul, which are the same for all [Aristotle]
1701 A prayer is a sentence which is neither true nor false [Aristotle]
1702 Things may be necessary once they occur, but not be unconditionally necessary [Aristotle]
1703 It is necessary that either a sea-fight occurs tomorrow or it doesn't, though neither option is in itself necessary [Aristotle]
21593 In talking of future sea-fights, Aristotle rejects bivalence [Aristotle, by Williamson]
1704 Statements are true according to how things actually are [Aristotle]
1705 It doesn't have to be the case that in opposed views one is true and the other false [Aristotle]
1706 Non-existent things aren't made to exist by thought, because their non-existence is part of the thought [Aristotle]
1707 Maybe necessity and non-necessity are the first principles of ontology [Aristotle]
1708 In "Callias is just/not just/unjust", which of these are contraries? [Aristotle]
9405 Square of Opposition: not both true, or not both false; one-way implication; opposite truth-values [Aristotle]
9728 Modal Square 1: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'contraries' of □¬P and ¬◊P [Aristotle, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
9729 Modal Square 2: ¬□¬P and ◊P are 'subcontraries' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Aristotle, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
9730 Modal Square 3: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'contradictories' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Aristotle, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
9731 Modal Square 4: □¬P and ¬◊P are 'contradictories' of ¬□¬P and ◊P [Aristotle, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
9732 Modal Square 5: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'subalternatives' of ¬□¬P and ◊P [Aristotle, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
9733 Modal Square 6: □¬P and ¬◊P are 'subalternatives' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Aristotle, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]