Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Nature of Mathematics' and 'Word and Object'

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2 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / C. Ontology of Logic / 3. If-Thenism
14783 Logic, unlike mathematics, is not hypothetical; it asserts categorical ends from hypothetical means [Peirce]
     Full Idea: Mathematics is purely hypothetical: it produces nothing but conditional propositions. Logic, on the contrary, is categorical in its assertions. True, it is a normative science, and not a mere discovery of what really is. It discovers ends from means.
     From: Charles Sanders Peirce (The Nature of Mathematics [1898], II)
5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 6. Plural Quantification
12798 Plurals can in principle be paraphrased away altogether [Quine]
     Full Idea: By certain standardizations of phrasing the contexts that call for plurals can in principle be paraphrased away altogether.
     From: Willard Quine (Word and Object [1960], §19)
     A reaction: Laycock, who quotes this, calls it 'unduly optimistic', but I presume that it was the standard view of plural reference until Boolos raised the subject.