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Single Idea 14645

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

Full Idea

To be necessarily greater than 7 is not a trait of a number, but depends on the manner of referring to the number.

Gist of Idea

To be necessarily greater than 7 is not a trait of 7, but depends on how 7 is referred to

Source

Willard Quine (Reference and Modality [1953], §2)

Book Ref

Plantinga,Alvin: 'Essays in the Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 2003], p.148

A Reaction

The most concise quotation of Quine's objection to 'de re' modality. The point is whether the number might have been referred to as 'the number of planets'. So many of these problems are solved by fixing unambiguous propositions first.

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]