Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Frege's Concept of Numbers as Objects', 'On the Moral and Legal State of Abortion' and 'Recent Aesthetics in England and America'

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3 ideas

19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 5. Meaning as Verification
A milder claim is that understanding requires some evidence of that understanding [Wright,C]
     Full Idea: A mild version of the verification principle would say that it makes sense to think of someone as understanding an expression only if he is able, by his use of the expression, to give the best possible evidence that he understands it.
     From: Crispin Wright (Frege's Concept of Numbers as Objects [1983], 1.vii)
     A reaction: That doesn't seem to tell us what understanding actually consists of, and may just be the truism that to demonstrate anything whatsoever will necessarily involve some evidence.
19. Language / B. Reference / 1. Reference theories
If apparent reference can mislead, then so can apparent lack of reference [Wright,C]
     Full Idea: If the appearance of reference can be misleading, why cannot an apparent lack of reference be misleading?
     From: Crispin Wright (Frege's Concept of Numbers as Objects [1983], 2.xi)
     A reaction: A nice simple thought. Analytic philosophy has concerned itself a lot with sentences that seem to refer, but the reference can be analysed away. For me, this takes the question of reference out of the linguistic sphere, which wasn't Wright's plan.
19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 3. Predicates
We can accept Frege's idea of object without assuming that predicates have a reference [Wright,C]
     Full Idea: The heart of the problem is Frege's assumption that predicates have Bedeutungen at all; and no reason is at present evident why someone who espouses Frege's notion of object is contrained to make that assumption.
     From: Crispin Wright (Frege's Concept of Numbers as Objects [1983], 1.iv)
     A reaction: This seems like a penetrating objection to Frege's view of reference, and presumably supports the Kripke approach.