Properties and Propositions
The Metaphysics of Higher-Order Logic

Articulates and defends a novel theory of properties and propositions, based on Frege's insight that properties are not objects.

Robert Trueman (Author)

9781108840477, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 January 2021

240 pages
16 x 23.5 x 1.5 cm, 0.48 kg

'This is just the sort of book I like. Trueman enters one of the most notorious of philosophical swamps - Frege's puzzle of the concept horse - and emerges triumphant at the other end, in an outstanding display of clarity, rigor, and philosophical sense. And that's just the beginning. Trueman goes on to generalize his resolution of the puzzle to a satisfying and wide-ranging philosophy of logic; all of this while remaining pleasingly attentive to historical sources and writing wonderful prose. Properties and Propositions is sure to be a standard reference for years to come.' Agustín Rayo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This book articulates and defends Fregean realism, a theory of properties based on Frege's insight that properties are not objects, but rather the satisfaction conditions of predicates. Robert Trueman argues that this approach is the key not only to dissolving a host of longstanding metaphysical puzzles, such as Bradley's Regress and the Problem of Universals, but also to understanding the relationship between states of affairs, propositions, and the truth conditions of sentences. Fregean realism, Trueman suggests, ultimately leads to a version of the identity theory of truth, the theory that true propositions are identical to obtaining states of affairs. In other words, the identity theory collapses the gap between mind and world. This book will be of interest to anyone working in logic, metaphysics, the philosophy of language or the philosophy of mind.

Introduction
1. Substitution in a Sense
2. The Term/Predicate Distinction
3. Ramsey's Challenge
4. Two Types of Reference
5. The Reference Principle
6. Fregean Realism
7. Fregean Nominalism
8. Some
9. The Concept Horse Paradox
10. The Metaphysics Exam
11. States of A airs
12. The Prenective View of Propositional Content
13. On Content and Object
14. The Identity Theory of Truth
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: logic [HPL], Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge [HPK], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ]