Description

• Title:
  Presupposition from a logical perspective
• Creator:
  Kulińska, Zofia
• Description:
  .  The main aim of this article is to show the problem of presupposition from the  side of the logical analysis of language. Deliberations on the topic derive from the  nineteenth century and are connected to Gottlob Frege. In his work titled “On sense  and reference”, he asks how the expressions with a referring function should be  translated into logical language. He also emphasizes “assumptions for the existence  of referent (designation)”, whose characteristic feature is that their authenticity is  a crucial condition to provide a sentence with a logical meaning. Therefore, Frege  highlighted the crucial feature of presupposition that is constancy under negation.  However, Frege’s concept lacks unity when it comes to the level of the language  on which the assumptions should be made. An opposing view on presupposition is  presented by Russell and his idea of definite descriptions, which solves the problem  of sentences with non-existent subject terms, of which Frege’s language philosophy  does not provide a precise explanation. Russell claims that denoting phrases can be  expressed in the form of conjunction of the value of the sentence and thus sentences  predicating on something that does not exist happen to be false. However, Russel’s  view differs from the one presented by a twentieth-century philosopher, Peter  Strawson. The latter maintains that the problems mentioned derive from the fact that  scholars do not notice the difference between sentences and sentences used to have  an assertive meaning and, consequently, that the sentences cannot be true or false  since this is a characteristic feature of statements. He also emphasizes a connection  between them, in which one statement is a primary condition to give a logical value  to another statement. Strawson called the phenomenon a presupposition and claimed  that it can be recognized as a specific kind of pragmatic deduction/presupposition.  The article focuses on showing the three views on presupposition on the grounds of  the philosophies of language presented by scholars mentioned above. 
• Object availability:
  free access
• Rights:
  Prawa autorskie (c) 2017 Linguistica Copernicana
• Date:
  2017.06.15
• Type:
  info:eu-repo/semantics/article;
  info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
• Language:
  Polish
• Source:
  Linguistica Copernicana; Tom 13 (2016); 239-250;
  2391-7768;
  2080-1068
• Format:
  application/pdf
• Publisher:
  Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
• Relation: https://apcz.umk.pl/LinCop/article/view/LinCop.2016.011/12466
• Subject:
  presupozycje;
  logika;
  filozofia języka;
  Frege;
  Strawson;
  Russell;
  presupposition;
  logic;
  philosophy of language
• Identifier: https://apcz.umk.pl/LinCop/article/view/LinCop.2016.011
• Data provider:
  Akademicka Platforma Czasopism
• Can I use it?:
  seek permission
• Type:
  text