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Single Idea 15348

[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 5. Truth Bearers ]

Full Idea

It makes little difference, at least in extensional contexts, whether the truth bearers are propositions or sentences (or assertions). Even if the bearers are propositions rather than sentences, propositions are structured rather like sentences.

Gist of Idea

Propositions have sentence-like structures, so it matters little which bears the truth

Source

Leon Horsten (The Tarskian Turn [2011], 02.4)

Book Ref

Horsten,Leon: 'The Tarskian Turn' [MIT 2011], p.23


A Reaction

The 'extensional' context means you are only talking about the things that are referred to, and not about the way this is expressed. I prefer propositions, but this is an interesting point.


The 25 ideas with the same theme [sorts of items capable of truth and falsehood]:

The truth bearers are said to be the signified, or the signifier, or the meaning of the signifier [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus]
It is only when we say a proposition that we speak truly or falsely [Sext.Empiricus]
It is propositions which are true or false, though it is sometimes said of ideas [Locke]
If they refer to real substances, 'man' is a true idea and 'centaur' a false one [Locke]
Truth only belongs to mental or verbal propositions [Locke]
Truth is a characteristic of possible thoughts [Leibniz]
True and false seem to pertain to thoughts, yet unthought propositions seem to be true or false [Leibniz]
In Hegel's logic it is concepts (rather than judgements or propositions) which are true or false [Hegel, by Scruton]
Frege was strongly in favour of taking truth to attach to propositions [Frege, by Dummett]
Truth belongs to beliefs, not to propositions and sentences [Russell]
In its primary and formal sense, 'true' applies to propositions, not beliefs [Russell]
What is true or false is not mental, and is best called 'propositions' [Russell]
Truth and falsehood are properties of beliefs and statements [Russell]
Truth is irrelevant if no statements are involved [Goodman]
Must sentences make statements to qualify for truth? [O'Connor]
Davidson takes truth to attach to individual sentences [Davidson, by Dummett]
Logicians take sentences to be truth-bearers for rigour, rather than for philosophical reasons [Cartwright,R]
Are the truth-bearers sentences, utterances, ideas, beliefs, judgements, propositions or statements? [Cartwright,R]
To be true a sentence must express a proposition, and not be ambiguous or vague or just expressive [Lewis]
Psychology has to include the idea that mental processes are typically truth-preserving [Fodor]
There are at least fourteen candidates for truth-bearers [Kirkham]
A statement S is 'partly true' if it has some wholly true parts [Yablo]
Truth and falsity apply to suppositions as well as to assertions [Williamson]
Are truth-bearers propositions, or ideas/beliefs, or sentences/utterances? [Engel]
Propositions have sentence-like structures, so it matters little which bears the truth [Horsten]