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On ‘There Is’:Logical Investigations into Instantial Sentences

Title / Series / Name
Journal of Philosophical Logic
Publication Volume
54
Publication Issue
1
Pages
Editors
Keywords
Existence
Existential import
Instantial sentences
Logic and metaphysics
Quantification
Quantified argument calculus
Philosophy
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27941
Abstract
I distinguish between instantial sentences (There are elephants that swim), particular quantification, and predication of existence in natural language. I explore the logical relation between the first two, while the last one is shown independent of either. I continue to consider the incorporation of the three kinds of sentence in the Quantified Argument Calculus (Quarc). I provide formalisations that preserve the logical relations specified earlier. I also extend the analysis to quantified instantial sentences (There are five elephants that swim) and modal ones. A conclusion of this work is that quantification and instantial sentences provide no guide to ontology.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2025-02-01
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1007/s10992-025-09785-8
Publisher link
Unit