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Ideas of Peter F. Strawson, by Text

[British, 1919 - 2006, Father of Galen Strawson. Professor at Oxford University.]

1950 On Referring
p.37 'The present King of France is bald' presupposes existence, rather than stating it [Grayling]
p.402 Reference is mainly a social phenomenon [Sainsbury]
p.535 If an expression can refer to anything, it may still instrinsically refer, but relative to a context [Bach]
§1 p.65 Russell asks when 'The King of France is wise' would be a true assertion
§2 p.68 Expressions don't refer; people use expressions to refer
§2 p.68 The meaning of an expression or sentence is general directions for its use, to refer or to assert
§2 p.70 If an utterance fails to refer then it is a pseudo-use, though a speaker may think they assert something
§5 p.85 There are no rules for the exact logic of ordinary language, because that doesn't exist
1950 Truth
§1 p.449 The word 'true' always refers to a possible statement
§2 p.452 The fact which is stated by a true sentence is not something in the world
§2 p.453 Facts aren't exactly true statements, but they are what those statements say
§2 p.453 The statement that it is raining perfectly fits the fact that it is raining
1959 Individuals:Essay in Descript Metaphysics
Intro p.9 Descriptive metaphysics aims at actual structure, revisionary metaphysics at a better structure
Intro p.9 Close examination of actual word usage is the only sure way in philosophy
Intro p.10 Descriptive metaphysics concerns unchanging core concepts and categories
3.4 p.100 I can only apply consciousness predicates to myself if I can apply them to others
3.4 p.101 A person is an entity to which we can ascribe predicates of consciousness and corporeality
3.4 n1 p.99 The idea of a predicate matches a range of things to which it can be applied
1978 Entity and Identity
I p.34 It makes no sense to ask of some individual thing what it is that makes it that individual
I n4 p.38 We need a logical use of 'object' as predicate-worthy, and an 'ontological' use