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Single Idea 14643

[filed under theme 10. Modality / A. Necessity / 4. De re / De dicto modality ]

Full Idea

Aquinas says if a 'de dicto' statement is true, the 'de re' version may be false. The opposite also applies: 'What I am thinking of [17] is essentially prime' is true, but 'The proposition "what I am thinking of is prime" is necessarily true' is false.

Gist of Idea

'De dicto' true and 'de re' false is possible, and so is 'de dicto' false and 'de re' true

Source

Alvin Plantinga (De Re and De Dicto [1969], p.27)

Book Ref

Plantinga,Alvin: 'Essays in the Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 2003], p.27

A Reaction

In his examples the first is 'de re' (about the number), and the second is 'de dicto' (about that proposition).

Related Idea

Idea 14642 Expressing modality about a statement is 'de dicto'; expressing it of property-possession is 'de re' [Plantinga]

The 14 ideas with the same theme [modes of reality, or modes of statement about it]:

14641 A deduction is necessary if the major (but not the minor) premise is also necessary [Aristotle]
8481 The de dicto-de re modality distinction dates back to Abelard [Abelard, by Orenstein]
14645 To be necessarily greater than 7 is not a trait of 7, but depends on how 7 is referred to [Quine]
14975 A de dicto necessity is true in all worlds, but not necessarily of the same thing in each world [Cresswell]
14642 Expressing modality about a statement is 'de dicto'; expressing it of property-possession is 'de re' [Plantinga]
14643 'De dicto' true and 'de re' false is possible, and so is 'de dicto' false and 'de re' true [Plantinga]
14649 Can we find an appropriate 'de dicto' paraphrase for any 'de re' proposition? [Plantinga]
14652 'De re' modality is as clear as 'de dicto' modality, because they are logically equivalent [Plantinga]
16079 De re modal predicates are ambiguous [Lewis, by Rudder Baker]
14223 De dicto necessity has linguistic entities as their source, so it is a type of de re necessity [Shalkowski]
12003 De re modal formulae, unlike de dicto, are sensitive to transworld identities [Forbes,G]
15420 De re modality seems to apply to objects a concept intended for sentences [Burgess]
15175 Evaluation of de dicto modalities does not depend on the identity of its objects [Sidelle]
5732 'De re' modality is about things themselves, 'de dicto' modality is about propositions [Melia]