NDLI: Prior’s individuals

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Slater, Hartley
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Criticisms have been aired before (see Bealer 1982, Schiffer 2003 for example) about the fear (which Arthur Prior shared) of certain Platonic abstract objects, propositions. That criticism extends to the widespread preference (which Prior initiated) for an operator analysis of expressions like ‘It is true, known, obligatory that p’ as opposed to the predicative analysis in their equivalents ‘That p is true, known, obligatory’. The criticism in the present work also concerns Prior’s attitude to Platonic entities of a certain kind: not propositions, i.e., the referents of ‘that’-clauses, but individuals, i.e., the referents of Russell’s ‘logically proper names’. Prior had a close knowledge of theories of individuals, including that of Russell. However, when Prior formulated his tense logic Q he presumed a non-Russellian, pre-suppositional account of individuals, such that they might exist at one time but not at another, and when they did not exist no statement could be made about them. This paper examines the correctness of such a pre-suppositional account of individuals, showing there are features of natural language it cannot account for. It is shown that the required features can be formalised in Hilbert’s epsilon calculus, and that using that calculus substantiates a Russellian understanding of ‘logically proper names’.
Starting Page	3497
Ending Page	3506
Page Count	10
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00397857
Journal	Synthese
Volume Number	193
Issue Number	11
e-ISSN	15730964
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2015-09-10
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Prior’s temporal logic Q Hilbert’s epsilon calculus Russell’s logically proper names Donnellan’s distinction Strawsonian pre-suppositions Philosophy of Science Epistemology Logic Philosophy of Language Metaphysics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Social Sciences

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

On a derivation of the necessity of identity

Proper Names and the Necessity of Identity Statements

Russell’s Repsychologising of the Proposition

Harmonising natural deduction

Moment/History Duality in Prior’s Logics of Branching-Time

The Practice of Finitism: Epsilon Calculus and Consistency Proofs in Hilbert's Program

Prior’s paradigm for the study of time and its methodological motivation

Names as Tokens and Names as Tools

The semantics/pragmatics distinction

Prior’s individuals

Similar Documents

On a derivation of the necessity of identity

Proper Names and the Necessity of Identity Statements

Russell’s Repsychologising of the Proposition

Harmonising natural deduction

Moment/History Duality in Prior’s Logics of Branching-Time

The Practice of Finitism: Epsilon Calculus and Consistency Proofs in Hilbert's Program

Prior’s paradigm for the study of time and its methodological motivation

Names as Tokens and Names as Tools

The semantics/pragmatics distinction

Prior’s individuals