Full Idea
A slogan: One can't read ontological commitments from semantic conditions unless one has already smuggled into those semantic conditions the ontology one would like to read off.
Gist of Idea
We only get ontology from semantics if we have already smuggled it in
Source
Jody Azzouni (Deflating Existential Consequence [2004], Ch.3)
Book Reference
Azzouni,Jody: 'Deflating Existential Consequence' [OUP 2004], p.55
A Reaction
The arguments supporting this are subtle, but it's good enough for me, as I never thought anyone was ontologically committed just because they used the vagueries of language to try to say what's going on around here.