J D wrote:
Most of Wittgenstein's remarks on the subject allude to the Frege-Russell distinction between identity, predication, existence, and subsumption roles of the copula functions which is built into modern logical notations. The debate between Russell and Meinong is important here. (Prior to Frege and Kant, Aristotle and Kant are most important.) Peirce also wrote extensively on this but his work was less influential. Logicians also distinguish between predication as class membership and as class inclusion, the latter of which is equivalent to subsumption. J. Hintikka is probably the most important recent philosopher on the subject. Now, some fanciful examples:1. Identity Wonder Woman is Diana Prince 2. Predication Wonder Woman is invulnerable 2a. Class membership Wonder Woman is Amazon2b. Class inclusion Amazons are women 3. Existence. Wonder Woman is. 4. Subsumption Amazons are women
There is also (at least) one mixed or hard to classify case that should be considered; for example, the cow is in the garden.
clearly, 'the cow is' is an example of the is of existence (OED signification 1 under 'be').
clearly, 'the cow is brown' is an example of the is of predication (OED signification 3 under 'be').
what then of 'the cow is in the garden' which is OED signification 2 under 'be'.
can it be a case of predication? well 'in the garden' is an adverbial phrase; and, as such it modifies the verb of the sentence. thus, it fails to meet Kant's definition of a 'real' predicate --- adding further determination to the subject. is it a logical predicate?
alternatively, is 'the cow is in the garden' an example of the is of existence? the phrase 'in the garden' would then function as an adverbial to specify just *where* the claim made by the rest of the sentence is true.
Joe
--
Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware
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