Substitutivity
The problem of substitutivity has always been a thorn in the side of the study of semantic logic. Why does it sometimes appear that terms that refer to identical objects cannot be replaced with each other in propositions without altering the truth value or meaning of said proposition? Leibniz's Law would seem to ensure that we could perform such an action without anything significant having changed, but this is clearly not so. I intend to look at the history, not only of this problem, but of the theories that have created an atmosphere in which these questions can be contemplated. Finally, I will offer some of my own insights and perceived problems.
Gottlob Frege (1) asserts that, in addition to the denotation of a sign (2), there is also a meaning attached. (3) The denotation is the specific thing that a sign refers to. The meaning, however, is the actual intention behind using the sign. It follows from this distinction that signs may be identical, but have different functions in a proposition. When it comes to meanings, it is not necessarily the case that the respective denotations of the same sign are equivalent. In fact, Frege argues, there may well be meaning without any denotation whatsoever. As an example, he uses 'the celestial body most distant from the Earth'. While this expression most likely has meaning, it is doubtful that it denotes anything. Frege concludes, "In grasping a (meaning), one is not certainly assured of (denoting) anything". (4) Yet, Frege admits, we must presuppose that there is, indeed a denotation, in order to grasp the meaning. He admits that while we may be mistaken in our assumption, the importance lies in the intention of the speaker, not in the existence of the denotation.
Frege next turns his attention to full sentences. He claims that the thought conveyed by a sentence cannot be its denotation, for the same denotation may be expressed by very different thoughts. The thought, therefore, must be the meaning. Yet Frege admits that we are justified in desiring a denotation for our sentences, and he claims that we do so in order to determine truth. His conclusion is that the denotation of a sentence is its truth value. He claims that, "Every assertoric sentence concerned with what its words (denote) is therefore to be regarded as a proper name, and its (denotation), if it has one, is either the True or the False".
In this paper I shall consider Spinoza’s argument offered in the second Scholium to Proposition 8, which argues for the impossibility of two substances sharing the same nature. I shall first begin by explaining, in detail, the two-step structure of the argument and proceed accordingly by offering a structured account of its relation to the main claim. Consequently I shall point out what I reasonably judge to be a mistake in Spinoza’s line of reasoning; that is, that the definition of a thing does not express a fixed number of individuals under that definition. By contrast, I hope to motivate the claim that a true definition of a thing does in fact express a fixed number of individuals that fall under that definition. I shall then present a difficulty against my view and concede in its insufficiency to block Spinoza’s conclusion. Finally, I shall resort to a second objection in the attempt to prove an instance by which two substances contain a similar attribute, yet differ in nature. Under these considerations, I conclude that Spinoza’s thesis is mistaken.
In the following, I shall look at the comparisons in detail in order to see exactly what Frege intended in likening the relation of logic to truth to that of ethics to the good and aesthetics to the beautiful. It will turn out that, although the language of the various comparisons is superficially similar, Frege actually makes four different points by means of the analogy. Furthermore, only one of these comparisons says something that both a) is about logic and truth and b) could not be better said by a comparison of logic to, for example, physics. I draw two general conclusions from this. First, Frege was struggling over how to understand the relation of logic to truth. (Perhaps this is obvious anyway.) If he had not bee...
Pause, reflect, and the reader may see at once the opposing yet relative perceptions made between life, love, marriage and death in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. In this novel, Woolf seems to capture perfectly the very essence of life, while conveying life’s significance as communicated to the reader in light tones of consciousness arranged with the play of visual imagery. That is, each character in the novel plays an intrinsic role in that the individuality of other characters can be seen only through the former’s psyche. Moreover, every aspect of this novel plays a significant role in its creation. For instance; the saturation of the present by the past, the atmospheres conjoining personalities and separating them, and the moments when things come together and fall apart. This paper will explore such aspects of To the Lighthouse while incorporating the notion that the world Woolf creates in this novel is one that combines finite and infinite truth. A created world that recognizes both limitation and isolation and how these themes are interrelated in and throughout the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. Conceptually, Woolf combines all of the aforementioned realities of life into the presentation of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, a married couple that seem to stand for both accurate and visionary approaches to the reality of life. It is important, then, to consider that To the Lighthouse is not only representational of life, but that it also catches life. It is thus the goal of this paper to readily show why this is so.
Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, making it the most recent province to became part of the country. Some historians argue that the delay is diffcult to understand, since Newfoundland had the chance to enter into Canada in 1867. This paper explores why Newfoundland did not join Confederation in 1867 and remained an independent political entitiy. In was not in their best interest given the overarching political debacle which unfolded between the colony’s Conservatives and Liberals. The decision to remain an independent political entitiy or join the federal govenrment was hindered by opposing poltical views. Despite having two men, known today as the Fathers of Confederation, at the Quebec Conference who supported the idea of union, Newfoundland itself did not. A general election to decide the fate of the colony resulted in ongoing dissatisfaction with the idea of joining the new dominion. The question of higher taxation and terrifies that would hinder the success of the colony was a risk people were not yet ready to take. Most of Newfoundland’s core industries began to suffer and fall apart, while the colonies government continued to disagree, despite a concerted effort made by Canadian officials to have them join the larger nation.
Rizzi (1997) depends on a few features, that syntactic movement is “last resort” or that it must be a necessary “quasi-morphological” requirement, and that these requirements are Criteria requirements, “the presence of a head entering into the required Spec-head configuration with the preposed phrase”. Criteria requirements, unlike feature checking, will not disappear. Finally, Rizzi must also assume within the relativized minimality theory, Empty Category Principle (ECP), and the Head Movement Constraint (HMC) and therefore head government. The rele...
When growing up, we all face the difficulty of finding who we really are as a person. This can be referred to as Identity Diffusion. Described in Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages, the individual has not yet experienced an identity crisis, nor has he made any commitment to a vocation or set of beliefs. There is also no indication that he or she is actively trying to make a commitment. According to psychologist Erik Erikson, identity diffusion has 4 major stages. Those components include: intimacy, a diffusion of time perspective, diffusion of industry, and negative identity. Even if you may not be aware of it, everyone really does experience these stages when growing up in life. In my life, I have gone through the four stages referred to as intimacy, a diffusion of time perspective, diffusion of industry, and negative identity.
Firstly, I shall expound the verification principle. I shall then show that its condition of significant types is inexhaustible, and that this makes the principle inapplicable. In doing so, I shall have exposed serious inconsistencies in Ayer's theory of meaning, which is a necessary part of his modified verification principle.
Female Identity in Virginia Woolf’s, To The Lighthouse, Elizabeth Bowen’s, Heat of the Day and Iris Murdoch’s, Under the Net
Russell’s Theory of Definite Description has totally changed the way we view definite descriptions by solving the three logical paradoxes. It is undeniable that the theory itself is not yet perfect and there can be objections on this theory. Still, until now, Russell’s theory is the most logical explanation of definite description’s role.
...l its civilizing influences are doomed to be “pitched downwards to the depths of darkness” (TL: 138). A place which is all too familiar to Mr. Ramsay because throughout the novel he has become a prisoner in this darkness because he has allowed himself to be trapped within the confines of the uncanny that exists in his subconscious mind and is starting to bloom and grow in his conscious state of being. In essays written between 1919 and 1925, Woolf talks mostly, as we have already seen, about extending the novel to embrace human consciousness, to provide a more accurate record of the flickering emotions of everyday life. By doing this, Woolf has created a bridge between the fictional world of her novel and the reality of the world in which we live. These ideas of consciousness play on our emotions and as an audience it allows to be emotionally involved in the novel.
Denotation is a literal meaning of something. Panofsky (1957, as cited in Chandler, 2002) claims denotative meaning as all the things that can be recognized by people from many different cultures. In denotative level, the sign is treated independently as it is free from any subjective interpretations, since it has its own basic meaning. While in connotative level, the meaning of the sign is influenced by subjective interpretation, such as emotion and feelings specifically related to ones’ culture. Connotation provides the illusion of denotation meaning (Bouzida, 2014; Chandler, 2002; Fisk,
This paper will explain the process we, as humans usually follow to understand a certain text or utterance. This explanation would be achieved through the analysis of two journal articles from semantics and pragmatics perspective, taking into account a range of techniques associated with each of the two concepts including:
Woolf views society as a center for conflict for the characters in her novel. They struggle with the internal dilemma of whether they should be who they want to be or what everyone else wants them to be. In the novel Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf uses stream of consciousness to demonstrate the pressures and effects of society on different characters in the 1920’s. Using both Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith, Woolf reveals how two different realms of society, the upper class and the middle class, can place very similar pressures and produce very similar effects on the people who dwell within each.
As Woolf narrates her essay in first-person, she introduces “the woman” as her subject. Woolf claims that “the woman” is who remains after killing the Angel in the House (102). Now, we may wonder what kind of woman “the woman” is. Woolf answers this question herself by saying, “I assure you, I do not know. I do not believe that you know” (102). Of course, it is clear what Woolf’s uncertainty implies: since women are shaped by the patriarchal society to be nothing but the Angel in the House, once that Angel is killed, we do not know anything of the capabilities, personality, weaknesses, and strengths of the true woman. Although Woolf’s implication is a fair critique of the effects of patriarchy on feminine gender, does Woolf go far enough in such critique as