Philosophy Seminar: Fraser MacBride (Manchester)

RELATIONS: PREDICATES EXPRESSING THEM, NAMES DENOTING THEM AND QUANTIFIERS REPLACING THEM

Predicates in general and many place predicates in particular are, I argue, impurely referring expressions, i.e. do not only refer to relations but perform a further co-ordinating function in virtue of which a sentence is more than a list. Conceiving of predicates as impurely referring expressions provides a solution to Frege's Paradox of the Concept Horse and allows us to address van Inwagen’s Puzzle about Relation Names. Because it enables us to solve these puzzles, this gives us reason to favour my view that predicates are impurely referring expressions. I explore, from this point of view, the consequences for our understanding of second order logic.

Location details

Baines Wing (G. 36)