Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

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Atomic sentences as singular terms in free logic

Terence Parsons

pp. 103-113

Abstract

In logic texts, it is generally assumed that verbs denote properties of, or relations among, individuals. This is in marked contrast to the common view that verbs stand for events, actions, or states. In this paper I explore the common view about verbs. This quickly turns into a revised view, according to which it is whole "atomic' sentences (of English) that do the denoting, not just the verbs themselves. This is then most naturally formalized as if sentences of English were singular terms within a version of free logic, with the true ones successfully denoting events, and the false ones failing to denote.

Publication details

Published in:

Spohn Wolfgang, Skyrms Brian, van Fraassen Bas C (1991) Existence and explanation: essays presented in honor of Karel Lambert. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 103-113

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-011-3244-2_8

Full citation:

Parsons Terence (1991) „Atomic sentences as singular terms in free logic“, In: W. Spohn, B. Skyrms & B.C. Van Fraassen (eds.), Existence and explanation, Dordrecht, Springer, 103–113.