Simple sentences, substitutions, and mistaken evaluations

David Braun*, Jennifer Saul

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Many competent speakers initially judge that (i) is true and (ii) is false, though they know that (iii) is true. (i) Superman leaps more tall buildings than Clark Kent. (ii) Superman leaps more tall buildings than Superman. (iii) Superman is identical with Clark Kent. Semantic explanations of these intuitions say that (i) and (ii) really can differ in truth-value. Pragmatic explanations deny this, and say that the intuitions are due to misleading implicatures. This paper argues that both explanations are incorrect. (i) and (ii) cannot differ in truth-value, yet the intuitions are not due to implicatures, but rather to mistakes in evaluating (i) and (ii).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-41
Number of pages41
JournalPhilosophical Studies
Volume111
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2002

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