509,920 research outputs found
Propositions as Truthmaker Conditions
Propositions are often aligned with truth-conditions. The view is mistaken, since propositions discriminate where truth conditions do not. Propositions are hyperintensional: they are sensitive to necessarily equivalent differences. I investigate an alternative view on which propositions are truthmaker conditions, understood as sets of possible truthmakers. This requires making metaphysical sense of merely possible states of affairs. The theory that emerges illuminates the semantic phenomena of samesaying, subject matter, and aboutness
Some Reflections about Wittgenstein´s Bezugssystem
Only a few months before his death, Wittgenstein
invited us to imagine "that some propositions, of the form
of empirical propositions, were hardened and functioned
as channels for such empirical propositions as were not
hardened but fluid�; nevertheless he warned "this relation
altered with time, in that fluid propositions hardened, and
hard ones became fluid� (OC 96). Those hardened
propositions provide a certainty which is "like a mighty
force whose point of application does not move, and so no
work is accomplished by it� (Z 402). There are many things
that seem to be fixed, things which are removed from the
traffic: they are "so to speak shunted onto an unused
siding� (OC 210). Those things just give "our way of
looking at things, and our researches, their form� (OC
211). Maybe they were once disputed; but perhaps, for
unthinkable ages, they have belonged to the scaffolding of
our thoughts
Comprehension, Demonstration, and Accuracy in Aristotle
according to aristotle's posterior analytics, scientific expertise is composed of two different cognitive dispositions. Some propositions in the domain can be scientifically explained, which means that they are known by "demonstration", a deductive argument in which the premises are explanatory of the conclusion. Thus, the kind of cognition that apprehends those propositions is called "demonstrative knowledge".1 However, not all propositions in a scientific domain are demonstrable. Demonstrations are ultimately based on indemonstrable principles, whose knowledge is called "comprehension".2 If the knowledge of all scientific propositions were..
Physical Logic
In R.D. Sorkin's framework for logic in physics a clear separation is made
between the collection of unasserted propositions about the physical world and
the affirmation or denial of these propositions by the physical world. The
unasserted propositions form a Boolean algebra because they correspond to
subsets of an underlying set of spacetime histories. Physical rules of
inference, apply not to the propositions in themselves but to the affirmation
and denial of these propositions by the actual world. This physical logic may
or may not respect the propositions' underlying Boolean structure. We prove
that this logic is Boolean if and only if the following three axioms hold: (i)
The world is affirmed, (ii) Modus Ponens and (iii) If a proposition is denied
then its negation, or complement, is affirmed. When a physical system is
governed by a dynamical law in the form of a quantum measure with the rule that
events of zero measure are denied, the axioms (i) - (iii) prove to be too rigid
and need to be modified. One promising scheme for quantum mechanics as quantum
measure theory corresponds to replacing axiom (iii) with axiom (iv) Nature is
as fine grained as the dynamics allows.Comment: 14 pages, v2 published version with a change in the title and other
minor change
The Scope of the Truthmakers Requirement
Truths require truthmakers, many think. In this paper I will discuss the
scope of this requirement. Truthmaker maximalism is the claim that, necessarily,
all truths require truthmakers. I shall argue against this claim. I shall argue
against it on the basis of its implications. I shall first consider its implications
when applied to synthetic, contingent propositions. If the truthmaker requirement
applies to these propositions, so I shall argue, it is not possible for there to be
nothing, and it is not possible for any (possibly) accompanied entity to exist on its
own. I shall then consider its implications when applied to modal propositions,
specifically those concerning possible existence. I shall argue that if the truthmaker
requirement applies to such propositions, then there can be no relation which is
equivalent to metaphysical explanation, which – I shall suggest – amounts to a
denial of the existence of grounding
Comment on ``Consistent Sets Yield Contrary Inferences in Quantum Theory''
In a recent paper Kent has pointed out that in consistent histories quantum
theory it is possible, given initial and final states, to construct two
different consistent families of histories, in each of which there is a
proposition that can be inferred with probability one, and such that the
projectors representing these two propositions are mutually orthogonal. In this
note we stress that, according to the rules of consistent history reasoning two
such propositions are not contrary in the usual logical sense namely, that one
can infer that if one is true then the other is false, and both could be false.
No single consistent family contains both propositions, together with the
initial and final states, and hence the propositions cannot be logically
compared. Consistent histories quantum theory is logically consistent,
consistent with experiment as far as is known, consistent with the usual
quantum predictions for measurements, and applicable to the most general
physical systems. It may not be the only theory with these properties, but in
our opinion, it is the most promising among present possibilities.Comment: 2pages, uses REVTEX 3.
Leibniz and the Problem of Temporary Truths
Not unlike many contemporary philosophers, Leibniz admitted the existence of temporary truths, true propositions that have not always been or will not always be true. In contrast with contemporary philosophers, though, Leibniz conceived of truth in terms of analytic containment: on his view, the truth of a predicative sentence consists in the analytic containment of the concept expressed by the predicate in the concept expressed by the subject. Given that analytic relations among concepts are eternal and unchanging, the problem arises of explaining how Leibniz reconciled one commitment with the other: how can truth be temporary, if concept-containment is not? This paper presents a new approach to this problem, based on the idea that a concept can be consistent at one time and inconsistent at another. It is argued that, given a proper understanding of what it is for a concept to be consistent, this idea is not as problematic as it may seem at first, and is in fact implied by Leibniz’s general views about propositions, in conjunction with the thesis that some propositions are only temporarily true
A liberal paradox for judgment aggregation
In the emerging literature on judgment (as opposed to preference) aggregation, expert rights or liberal rights have not been investigated yet. When a group forms collective beliefs, it may assign experts with special knowledge on certain propositions the right to determine the collective judgment on those propositions; and, when a group forms collective goals or desires, it may assign individuals specially affected by certain propositions similar rights on those propositions. We identify a problem similar to, but more general than, Sen's `liberal paradox': Under plausible conditions, the assignment of such rights to two or more individuals (or subgroups) is inconsistent with the unanimity principle, whereby propositions accepted by all individuals must be collectively accepted. So a group respecting expert or liberal rights on certain propositions must sometimes overrule its unanimous judgments on others. The inconsistency does not arise if either different individuals' rights are `disconnected' or individuals are `agnostic/tolerant' or `deferring/empathetic' towards other individuals' rights. Our findings have implications for the design of mechanisms by which groups (societies, committees, expert panels, organizations) can reach decisions on systems of interconnected propositions.liberal paradox, liberal right, expert right, subgroup rights, unanimity principle, judgment aggregation, empathy, deferral, tolerance, agnosticism
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