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Single Idea 21638

[filed under theme 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 1. Syntax ]

Full Idea

Syntactic form is not only related to the truth conditions of a sentence; it is also related to what focus an utterance of a sentence will have.

Gist of Idea

Syntactic form concerns the focus of the sentence, as well as the truth-conditions

Source

Thomas Hofweber (Ontology and the Ambitions of Metaphysics [2016], 02.5.2)

Book Ref

Hofweber,Thomas: 'Ontology and the Ambitions of Metaphysics' [OUP 2018], p.42


A Reaction

Hofweber has commendably studied some linguistics. The idea of mental and linguistic 'focus' increasingly strikes me as of importance in many areas of philosophy. E.g. in the scope of ethics, on whom should you focus?