green numbers give full details | back to texts | unexpand this idea
| 18344 | Truth and falsehood must track what does or doesn't exist |
| Full Idea: If something is true, then it would not be possible for it to be false unless either certain things were to exist which don't, or else certain things had not existed which do. | |||
| From: John Bigelow (The Reality of Numbers [1988], 19) | |||
| A reaction: This is described by Rami as Bigelow's 'famous' formulation of the idea that 'truth supervenes on being' in a general way. An immediate question would be about fictions. Is Malvolio a stupid man, given that he doesn't exist? We must stretch 'exist'. |