Problems for Russellian act-type theories
Båve, Arvid LU
(2021)
In Inquiry (United Kingdom)
- Abstract
I here discuss two problems facing act-type theories of propositions, and argue that Fregean act-type theories are better equipped to deal with them than Russellian ones. The first relates to complex singular terms like '2+2', which turn out not to pose any special problem for Fregeans at all, whereas Soames' Russellian theory currently has no satisfactory way of dealing with them (particularly, with such ‘mixed’ propositions as the proposition that 2+2 is greater than 3). Although one possibility stands out as the most promising one, it requires that the Russellian treat complex properties as constituents of propositions. This leads to the second major problem for Russellians: that of proliferating propositions. I show how the most... (More)
I here discuss two problems facing act-type theories of propositions, and argue that Fregean act-type theories are better equipped to deal with them than Russellian ones. The first relates to complex singular terms like '2+2', which turn out not to pose any special problem for Fregeans at all, whereas Soames' Russellian theory currently has no satisfactory way of dealing with them (particularly, with such ‘mixed’ propositions as the proposition that 2+2 is greater than 3). Although one possibility stands out as the most promising one, it requires that the Russellian treat complex properties as constituents of propositions. This leads to the second major problem for Russellians: that of proliferating propositions. I show how the most direct solution to this problem, that of rejecting complex predicative propositional constituents is available to Fregeans but very implausible for Russellians, since this means rejecting complex properties.
(Less)
- author
- Båve, Arvid
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- Act-type theory of propositions, Fregean propositions, propositions, Russellian propositions, structured propositions
- in
- Inquiry (United Kingdom)
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85117508766
- ISSN
- 0020-174X
- DOI
- 10.1080/0020174X.2021.1990794
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- id
- 1529fd5f-f267-4262-8566-46da088eaf63
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-18 11:47:56
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 05:49:11
@article{1529fd5f-f267-4262-8566-46da088eaf63,
abstract = {{<p>I here discuss two problems facing act-type theories of propositions, and argue that Fregean act-type theories are better equipped to deal with them than Russellian ones. The first relates to complex singular terms like '2+2', which turn out not to pose any special problem for Fregeans at all, whereas Soames' Russellian theory currently has no satisfactory way of dealing with them (particularly, with such ‘mixed’ propositions as the proposition that 2+2 is greater than 3). Although one possibility stands out as the most promising one, it requires that the Russellian treat complex properties as constituents of propositions. This leads to the second major problem for Russellians: that of proliferating propositions. I show how the most direct solution to this problem, that of rejecting complex predicative propositional constituents is available to Fregeans but very implausible for Russellians, since this means rejecting complex properties.</p>}},
author = {{Båve, Arvid}},
issn = {{0020-174X}},
keywords = {{Act-type theory of propositions; Fregean propositions; propositions; Russellian propositions; structured propositions}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Inquiry (United Kingdom)}},
title = {{Problems for Russellian act-type theories}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2021.1990794}},
doi = {{10.1080/0020174X.2021.1990794}},
year = {{2021}},
}