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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Life of Theseus' and 'Thought and Reality'

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2 ideas

19. Language / D. Propositions / 1. Propositions
A proposition is what can be asserted or denied on its own [Chrysippus]
     Full Idea: A proposition is what can be asserted or denied on its own, for example, 'It is day' or 'Dion is walking'.
     From: Chrysippus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]), quoted by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.65
     A reaction: Note the phrase 'on its own'. If you say 'it is day and Dion is walking', that can't be denied on its own, because first the two halves must each be evaluated, so presumably that doesn't count as a stoic proposition.
We can't distinguish a proposition from its content [Dummett]
     Full Idea: No distinction can be drawn between a proposition and its content; no two distinct propositions can have the same content.
     From: Michael Dummett (Thought and Reality [1997], 3)
     A reaction: And one proposition cannot have two possible contents (ambiguity). Are we to say that a proposition supervenes on its content, or that proposition and content are identical? Ockham favours the latter.