Copredication, quantification and individuation
This thesis addresses the various problems of copredication: the phenomenon whereby two predicates are applied to a single argument, but they appear to require that their argument denote different things. For instance, in the sentence âThe lunch was delicious but went on for hoursâ, the predicate âdeliciousâ appears to require that âthe lunchâ denote food, while âwent onâ appears to require that it denote an event. Copredication raises philosophical issues regarding the place of a reference relation in semantic theory. It also raises issues concerning the ascription of sortal requirements to predicates in framing a theory of semantic anomaly. Finally, many quantified copredication sentences have truth conditions that cannot be accounted for given standard assumptions, because the predicates used impose distinct criteria of individuation on the objects to which they apply. For instance, the sentence âThree books are heavy and informativeâ cannot be true in a situation involving only a trilogy (informationally three books, but physically only one), nor in a situation involving only three copies of the same book (physically three books, but informationally only one): the three books involved
Gotham, M. G. H.
Copredication, quantification and individuation. This thesis addresses the various problems of copredication: the phenomenon whereby two predicates are applied to a single argument, but they appear to require that their argument denote different things. For instance, in the sentence âThe lunch was delicious but went on for hoursâ, the predicate âdeliciousâ appears to require that âthe lunchâ denote food, while âwent onâ appears to require that it denote an event. Copredication raises philosophical issues regarding the place of a reference relation in semantic theory. It also raises issues concerning the ascription of sortal requirements to predicates in framing a theory of semantic anomaly. Finally, many quantified copredication sentences have truth conditions that cannot be accounted for given standard assumptions, because the predicates used impose distinct criteria of individuation on the objects to which they apply. For instance, the sentence âThree books are heavy and informativeâ cannot be true in a situation involving only a trilogy (informationally three books, but physically only one), nor in a situation involving only three copies of the same book (physically three books, but informationally only one): the three books involved
quantification individuation address various problem phenomenon whereby predicate apply single argument appear require argument denote different thing instance sentence hour predicate appear require denote food appear require denote event raise philosophical_issue regard place reference relation semantic_theory also raise_issue concern ascription requirement predicate frame theory semantic anomaly finally many quantify sentence_truth condition account_give standard assumption predicate use impose distinct criterion individuation object apply instance sentence book heavy informative true situation involve books physically situation involve copy book physically book book involve