Pickel, B. (2015) Variables and attitudes. Noûs, 49(2), pp. 333-356. (doi: 10.1111/nous.12044)
Full text not currently available from Enlighten.
Abstract
The phenomenon of quantification into attitude ascriptions has haunted broadly Fregean views, according to which co‐referential proper names are not always substitutable salva veritate in attitude ascriptions. Opponents of Fregeanism argue that a belief ascription containing a proper name such as ‘Michael believes that Lindsay is charitable’ is equivalent to a quantified sentence such as ‘there is someone such that Michael believes that she is charitable, and that person is Lindsay’. They conclude that the semantic contribution of a name such as ‘Lindsay’ is the same as the semantic contribution of a variable under an assignment, which these opponents suggest is merely the object assigned to that variable. However, renewed interest in variables suggests that they make a more complicated contribution to the semantic processing of sentences that contain them. In particular, a variable contributes both an assignment‐unsaturated and an assignment‐saturated semantic value. I use this dual role of the semantics of variables to develop a response to the argument from quantifying in. I take as my point of departure Cumming's (2008) view that an attitude ascription relates the subject of an attitude to the assignment‐unsaturated semantic value of an open sentence. I argue that this approach fails. I propose an alternative, according to which the truth of a belief ascription depends on both the assignment‐saturated and the assignment‐unsaturated semantic value of the open sentence in its that‐clause. This approach reverses standard assumptions concerning the relation between quantification and substitution.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Pickel, Dr Bryan |
| Authors: | Pickel, B. |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy |
| Journal Name: | Noûs |
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| ISSN: | 0029-4624 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1468-0068 |
| Published Online: | 16 September 2013 |
University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record
Deposit and Record Details
Deposit and Record Details