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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Letters to Lelong' and 'Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy'

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2 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 1. Bivalence

6889	Vagueness seems to be inconsistent with the view that every proposition is true or false [Mautner]
	Full Idea: Vagueness is of great philosophical interest because it seems to be inconsistent with the view that every proposition is true or false.
	From: Thomas Mautner (Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy [1996], p.585)
	A reaction: This would explain why Williamson and Sorensen are keen to argue that vagueness is an epistemological (rather than ontological) problem. In ordinary English we are happy to say that p is 'sort of true' or 'fairly true'.

5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 2. Excluded Middle

6023	Every proposition is either true or false [Chrysippus, by Cicero]
	Full Idea: We hold fast to the position, defended by Chrysippus, that every proposition is either true or false.
	From: report of Chrysippus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]) by M. Tullius Cicero - On Fate ('De fato') 38
	A reaction: I am intrigued to know exactly how you defend this claim. It may depend what you mean by a proposition. A badly expressed proposition may have indeterminate truth, quite apart from the vague, the undecidable etc.