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Predicates in perspective

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Abstract

A familiar strategy of argument to the effect that natural-language predicates are semantically context dependent rests on constructing what I term Travis cases: different contexts for the use of a predicate are imagined in which its semantic (typically, truth-conditional) properties are claimed to differ. I propose an account of the semantic properties of predicates that give rise to Travis cases; I then argue that the account underwrites a genuine alternative to the standard explanations of Travis cases to be found in the literature; I close with a brief sketch of the connections, required by a fuller development of my account, among the semantic notion of a predicate’s content, the metaphysical notion of a property’s instantiation, and the cognitive notion of a language user’s perspective in using a predicate.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Anthony Corsentino

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  1. Anthony Corsentino
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Correspondence to Anthony Corsentino.

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Corsentino, A. Predicates in perspective. Synthese 187, 519–545 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-010-9859-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-010-9859-3

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