Cutting it (too) fine

Collins, John (2014) Cutting it (too) fine. Philosophical Studies, 169 (2). pp. 143-172. ISSN 0031-8116

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Abstract

It is widely held that propositions are structured entities. In The Nature and Structure of Content (2007), Jeff King argues that the structure of propositions is none other than the syntactic structure deployed by the speaker/hearers who linguistically produce and consume the sentences that express the propositions. The present paper generalises from King’s position and claims that syntax provides the best in-principle account of propositional structure. It further seeks to show, however, that the account faces serve problems pertaining to the fine individuation of propositions that the account entails. The ‘fineness of cut’ problem has been raised by Collins (The unity of linguistic meaning, 2007) and others. King (Philos Stud 163(3):763–781, 2013) responds to these complaints in ways this paper rebuts. Thus, the very idea of structured propositions is brought into doubt, for the best in-principle account of such structure appears to fail.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: structured propositions,fineness of cut,jeffrey king,active and passive constructions,symmetrical and non-symmetrical,predicates
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 26 Nov 2013 15:22
Last Modified: 21 Jul 2023 09:34
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/44746
DOI: 10.1007/s11098-013-0163-1

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