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Single Idea 9133

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

Full Idea

Propositions play the role of dis-ambiguators; they are the things between which utterances are ambiguous.

Gist of Idea

Propositions are what settle problems of ambiguity in sentences

Source

Roy Sorensen (Vagueness and Contradiction [2001], 7.7)

Book Ref

Sorensen,Roy: 'Vagueness and Contradiction' [OUP 2004], p.121


A Reaction

I have become a great fan of propositions, and I think this is one of the key reasons for believing in them. The proposition is what we attempt to pin down when asked 'what exactly did you mean by what you just said?'


The 20 ideas from 'Vagueness and Contradiction'

No attempt to deny bivalence has ever been accepted [Sorensen]
Vague words have hidden boundaries [Sorensen]
The colour bands of the spectrum arise from our biology; they do not exist in the physics [Sorensen]
Illusions are not a reason for skepticism, but a source of interesting scientific information [Sorensen]
Banning self-reference would outlaw 'This very sentence is in English' [Sorensen]
If nothing exists, no truthmakers could make 'Nothing exists' true [Sorensen]
Which toothbrush is the truthmaker for 'buy one, get one free'? [Sorensen]
God cannot experience unwanted pain, so God cannot understand human beings [Sorensen]
Denying problems, or being romantically defeated by them, won't make them go away [Sorensen]
We are unable to perceive a nose (on the back of a mask) as concave [Sorensen]
Bayesians build near-certainty from lots of reasonably probable beliefs [Sorensen]
It is propositional attitudes which can be a priori, not the propositions themselves [Sorensen]
Attributing apriority to a proposition is attributing a cognitive ability to someone [Sorensen]
I can buy any litre of water, but not every litre of water [Sorensen]
Two long understandable sentences can have an unintelligible conjunction [Sorensen]
An offer of 'free coffee or juice' could slowly shift from exclusive 'or' to inclusive 'or' [Sorensen]
Propositions are what settle problems of ambiguity in sentences [Sorensen]
The negation of a meaningful sentence must itself be meaningful [Sorensen]
We now see that generalizations use variables rather than abstract entities [Sorensen]
The paradox of analysis says that any conceptual analysis must be either trivial or false [Sorensen]