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Cancelled Predication and Target-Shifting  

Lee, Seungtaek (Department of Philosophy, Yonsei University)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Logic / v.22, no.2, 2019 , pp. 309-332 More about this Journal
Abstract
In Kang(2017), Jinho Kang persuasively criticized the attempt of Peter Hanks using his concept of cancelled predication to solve the Frege-Geach problem. According to Kang, Hanks had successfully shown the incoherence of Scott Soames's concept of neutral predication, but if it is true, then Hanks's concept of cancelled predication also falls into the same incoherence. I agree with Kang that Hanks faces the same incoherence, and I think that Hank's answers are unconvincing. As I see, however, it is possible for Hanks to overcome Kang's criticism. In this paper, I will reply to Kang's criticism by using conceptual resources in Hanks's own theory. In particular, the idea is that the final predication is compositionally explained by the type it belongs to without having truth-values because cancelled predication itself gives rise to target-shifting toward the type. By doing so, Hanks can successfully solve the Frege-Geach problem even though he let some remarks about cancelled predication unclear and confusing. In addition, it will be revealed that his notation is misleading as well.
Keywords
Propositions; Predication; the Frege-Geach Problem; Cancellation; Target-shifting; Type-Token Distinction;
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  • Reference
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