PHIL 340 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: China Brain, On Denoting, Propositional Function
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Russell: the present king of france is bald is meaningful, presumably, the present king of france is meaningful, therefore, the present king of france has meaning (subsists) Theory of denoting concepts (principles of mathematics): blocks move 2-3. The world is totality of discreet terms (subsistence) Proposition = complex of terms, true proposition = fact (also objects of attitudes) There are terms that are too vast for us to comprehend (ex. Solution: some abstract something goes proxy for the relating subject (denoting concepts), so we no longer have to worry about grasping the term, only the d. c. Empty denoting concepts denote nothing, therefore blocking meaning. Theory of descriptions (on denoting): blocks move 1-2. Previous theory allows contradictions (existing lion in this room), so needs new theory: Denoting phrases never have any meaning in themselves, but every proposition in whose verbal expression they occur has a meaning (the variable is fundamental)
