more from Stephen Read

Single Idea 10966

[catalogued under 19. Language / D. Propositions / 1. Propositions]

Full Idea

A proposition makes an object out of what is said or expressed by the utterance of a certain sort of sentence, namely, one in the indicative mood which makes sense and doesn't fail in its references. It can then be an object of thought and belief.

Gist of Idea

A proposition objectifies what a sentence says, as indicative, with secure references

Source

Stephen Read (Thinking About Logic [1995], Ch.1)

Book Reference

Read,Stephen: 'Thinking About Logic' [OUP 1995], p.9


A Reaction

Nice, but two objections: I take it to be crucial to propositions that they eliminate ambiguities, and I take it that animals are capable of forming propositions. Read seems to regard them as fictions, but I take them to be brain events.