The Problem of Substitutivity
I was planning on being super productive today! Heather decided that we should be productive together. However, now Heather is sleeping on my bed, and I'm brushing up on philosophical linguistic theory.
"Meaning and Truth" is a rather dense topic with rather dense readings. Luckily, William G. Lycan's Philosophy of Language really is a pleasure to read! I wound up laughing out loud at these bits that refer to The Problem of Substituvity:
"(4) Albert believes that the author of Being and Nothingness is a profound thinker.
...suppose (4) is true. Now, Albert is unaware that the author of Being and Nothingness moonlights by writing cheap, disgusting pornography. We cannot substitute the term "the author of Sizzling Veterinarians for "the author of Being and Nothingness in (4) without changing (4)'s truth-value; the result is a false sentence, since Albert believes that the author of Sizzling Veterinarians is a drooling moron. (I am afraid this reveals that Albert has read Sizzling Veterinarians.)" (Lycan 15)
"Meaning and Truth" is a rather dense topic with rather dense readings. Luckily, William G. Lycan's Philosophy of Language really is a pleasure to read! I wound up laughing out loud at these bits that refer to The Problem of Substituvity:
"(4) Albert believes that the author of Being and Nothingness is a profound thinker.
...suppose (4) is true. Now, Albert is unaware that the author of Being and Nothingness moonlights by writing cheap, disgusting pornography. We cannot substitute the term "the author of Sizzling Veterinarians for "the author of Being and Nothingness in (4) without changing (4)'s truth-value; the result is a false sentence, since Albert believes that the author of Sizzling Veterinarians is a drooling moron. (I am afraid this reveals that Albert has read Sizzling Veterinarians.)" (Lycan 15)