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Abstract

This talk connects two questions that are seldom brought together: (1) whether propositional embedding requires a force/content distinction; and (2) what kind of compositional model applies to non-atomic propositions. It has three main goals. First, it discusses and criticizes the view that forceful propositions compose non-mereologically on the model of Fregean reference. Some recent accounts of embedding, it argues, can be taken to propose versions of this approach (Hanks 2019, Hom & Schwartz 2020, Schmitz forthcoming). Secondly, it contrasts this unorthodox approach with the dominant view, on which forceless propositions compose like Fregean sense on the part/whole model. Finally, it proposes a third compositional model for propositional embedding, on which simulations of forceful propositions, which are neither forceful nor truth-evaluable, compose on the part/whole model.

Silver Bronzo

He received his PhD from the Department of Philosophy of the University of Chicago in 2015. He works mainly in the history of analytic philosophy, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of logic. Among his recent publications: "Propositional Complexity and the Frege-Geach Point" (Synthese, 2021); "Actions, Products, and Truth-Bearers: A Critique of Twardowskian Accounts" (Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2020); "Truth-Bearers in Frege and the Tractatus" (Analiza i Egzystencja, 2019); Wittgenstein on Sense and Grammar (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

Speaker(s)

Silver Bronzo

Higher School of Economics, Moscow