- This article documents the word proposition as it is used in logic, philosophy, and linguistics. For other usages see proposition (disambiguation).
In common philosophical language, a proposition is the content of an assertion, that is, it is true-or-false and defined by the meaning of a particular piece of language. The proposition is independent of the medium of communication. Shortcut: WP:CU Marking articles for cleanup This page is undergoing a transition to an easier-to-maintain format. ...
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Look up proposition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Look up assertion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Since the definition of proposition is such a crucial matter to various topics in philosophy, the nature of propositions is highly controversial. Even the existence of propositions is sometimes called into question. As a result, the term is widely used even where the term is not explicitly defined, and confusion can arise. Socrates (central bare-chested figure) about to drink hemlock as mandated by the court. ...
Common usage Different sentences express the same proposition when they both have the same meaning. For example, Snow is white (in English) and Schnee ist weiss (in German) are different sentences, but both say the same thing, namely, that snow is white. Hence they express the same proposition. Two different sentences in the same language may also express the same proposition. For example, Tiny crystals of frozen water precipitation are white is in English, but is said to be the same proposition as snow is white by virtue of the definition of snow.
Historical Usage
Usage in Aristotle Aristotelian logic identifies a proposition as a sentence which affirms or denies the predicate of a subject. An Aristotelian proposition may take the form All men are mortal or Socrates is a man. Such propositions comprise the atomic elements in Propositional logic. The sentence A and B expresses both proposition A and proposition B. Both treat the proposition as a sentence having the aforementioned form. Such usage is increasingly non-standard, and will not be used henceforth in this article. Aristotelian logic, also known as syllogistic logic, is the particular type of logic created by Aristotle, primarily in his works Prior Analytics and De Interpretatione. ...
In mathematics, a predicate is a relation. ...
See subject (grammar) for the linguistic definition of subject. ...
Propositional logic or sentential logic is the logic of propositions, sentences, or clauses. ...
Usage by the Logical Positivists Often propositions are related to closed sentences, to distinguish them from what is expressed by an open sentence, or predicate. In this sense, propositions are statements that are either true or false. This conception of a proposition was supported by the philosophical school of logical positivism. In linguistics and logic, a predicate is an expression that can be true of something. ...
For other uses, see Truth (disambiguation). ...
Logical positivism (later referred to as logical empiricism, rational empiricism, or neo-positivism) is a school of philosophy that combines positivism—which states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge—with a version of apriorism—the notion that some propositional knowledge can be had without, or prior to, experience. ...
Some philosophers, such as John Searle, hold that other kinds of speech or actions also assert propositions. Yes-no questions are an inquiry into a proposition's truth value. Traffic signs express propositions without using speech or written language. It is also possible to use a declarative sentence to express a proposition without asserting it, as when a teacher asks a student to comment on a quote; the quote is a proposition (that is, it has a meaning) but the teacher is not asserting it. Snow is white expresses the proposition that snow is white without asserting it (i.e. claiming snow is white). John Rogers Searle (born July 31, 1932) is Mills Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, and is noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and consciousness, on the characteristics of socially constructed versus physical realities, and on practical reason. ...
A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. ...
A German Autobahn overhead direction sign A U.S. warning sign indicating that drivers who do not wish to exit immediately should merge left, and a prohibitory No Stopping sign A Traffic sign in Road construction image Most countries erect signage, known as traffic signs or road signs, at the...
Propositions are also spoken of as the content of beliefs and similar intentional attitudes such as desires, preferences, and hopes. For example, "I desire that I have a new car," or "I wonder whether it will snow" (or, whether it is the case that it will snow). Desire, belief, and so on, are thus called propositional attitudes when they take this sort of content. Content can mean Comfort and a feeling of satisfaction Creations, as in open content or free content. ...
Look up belief in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
A propositional attitude is a relational mental state connecting a person to a proposition. ...
Usage in Russell Bertrand Russell held that propositions were structured entities with objects and properties as constituents. Others have held that a proposition is the set of possible worlds/states of affairs in which it is true. One important difference between these views is that on the Russellian account, two propositions that are true in all the same states of affairs can still be differentiated. For instance, the proposition that two plus two equals four is distinct on a Russellian account from three plus three equals six. If propositions are sets of possible worlds, however, then all mathematical truths are the same set (the set of all possible worlds). Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell OM FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, and mathematician, working mostly in the 20th century. ...
Relation to the mind Propositions are primarily discussed in relation to the mind as they fit into propositional attitudes. Propositional attitudes are simply attitudes characteristic of folk psychology (belief, desire, etc.) that one can take toward a proposition (e.g. 'it is raining', 'snow is white', etc.). In English, propositions usually follow folk psychological attitudes by a "that clause" (e.g. 'Jane believes that it is raining). In philosophy of mind and psychology, mental states are often taken to primarily consist in propositional attitudes. The propositions are usually said to be the mental content of the attitude. For example, if Jane has a mental state of believing that it is raining, her mental content is the proposition 'it is raining'. Furthermore, since such mental states are about something (namely propositions), they are said to be intentional mental states. Philosophical debates surrounding propositions as they relate to propositional attitudes have also recently centered on whether they are internal or external to the agent or whether they are mind-dependent or mind-independent entities (see the entry on internalism and externalism in philosophy of mind). A propositional attitude is a relational mental state connecting a person to a proposition. ...
Folk psychology (sometimes called naïve psychology) is the psychological theory implicit in our everyday ascriptions of others actions, and includes concepts such as belief (he thinks that Peter is wise), desire (she wants that piece of cake), fear (Alex is afraid of spiders) and hope (she hopes that he...
A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ...
Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ...
Intentionality, originally a concept from scholastic philosophy, was reintroduced in contemporary philosophy by the philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano in his work Psychologie vom Empirischen Standpunkte. ...
Recently internalism and externalism have become part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse, and have become central to certain important debates. ...
Treatment in logic As noted above, in Aristotelian logic a proposition is a particular kind of sentence, one which affirms or denies a predicate of a subject. Aristotelian propositions take forms like All men are mortal and Socrates is a man. Aristotelian logic, also known as syllogistic logic, is the particular type of logic created by Aristotle, primarily in his works Prior Analytics and De Interpretatione. ...
In mathematics, a predicate is a relation. ...
See subject (grammar) for the linguistic definition of subject. ...
Propositions are the elements in the domain of propositional logic. The sentence A and B expresses both proposition A and proposition B. Propositional logic or sentential logic is the logic of propositions, sentences, or clauses. ...
Propositions are what is expressed by predicate logic. (x)Fx is said to express a proposition. However, neither F nor x is a proposition itself. One early goal of predicate logic was to try and capture the structure of propositions independently of the sentences that express them; both the German and English versions of snow is white may be translated as Ws. By virtue of the definition of the object s (snow) this may be transformed into the more precise formulation of the proposition given above. Whether this translation can really be done is a matter of philosophical debate. ...
Modal operators like possibility or necessity have propositions as their subject (propositions are said to be in their scope). Modal logic has been similarly used in examining propositional attitudes like belief and desire, because the subjects of beliefs and desires are said to be propositions as well. In philosophical logic, a modal logic is any logic for handling modalities: concepts like possibility, impossibility, and necessity. ...
Possibility comprises that which one can achieve, or alternatively ones potential. ...
This article is about the law definition of necessity. ...
Objections to propositions A number of philosophers and linguists claim that the notion of a proposition is too vague or not useful. For them, it is just a misleading concept that should be removed from philosophy and semantics. W.V. Quine maintained that the indeterminacy of translation prevented any meaningful discussion of propositions, and that they should be discarded in favor of sentences. Semantics (Greek semantikos, giving signs, significant, symptomatic, from sema, sign) refers to the aspects of meaning that are expressed in a language, code, or other form of representation. ...
W. V. Quine Willard Van Orman Quine (June 25, 1908 - December 25, 2000) was one of the most influential American philosophers and logicians of the 20th century. ...
See also A boolean-valued function is a function of the type , where is an arbitrary set, where is a generic 2-element set, typically , and where the latter is frequently interpreted for logical applications as . ...
In both formal and informal logic, a main contention is a thought which is capable of being either true or false and is usually the most controversial proposition being argued for. ...
In discourse, a premise (also premiss in British usage) is a claim which is part of a reason or objection. ...
In mathematical logic the propositional calculus or sentential calculus is a formal deduction system whose atomic formulas are propositional variables. ...
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