green numbers give full details | back to texts | unexpand these ideas
14617 | Predicates can't apply to what doesn't exist |
Full Idea: Nothing can be predicated of something which does not exist. | |||
From: Robert C. Stalnaker (Merely Possible Propositions [2010], p.28) | |||
A reaction: [He says he is 'agreeing with Plantinga' on this] This seems very puzzling, as you can obviously say that dragons do not exist, but they breathe fire. Why can't you attach predicates to hypothetical objects? |
14616 | A 'Russellian proposition' is an ordered sequence of individual, properties and relations |
Full Idea: A 'Russellian proposition' is an ordered sequence containing the individual, along with properties and relations. | |||
From: Robert C. Stalnaker (Merely Possible Propositions [2010], p.22) | |||
A reaction: Since Russell took properties and relations to be features of reality, this made the whole proposition a feature of reality. This is utterly different from what I understand by the word 'proposition', which is a feature of thought, not of the world. |