Truth, propositions and context

Christopher Gauker

pp. 277-287

in: Artur Rojszczak, Jacek Cachro, Gabriel Kurczewski (eds), Philosophical dimensions of logic and science, Berlin, Springer, 2003

Abstract

Truth, in at least one sense, pertains to sentences. Whether a sentence is true often depends on the context. The clerk in a shoe store says, "All shoes are 20% off ". This means not that the prices of all shoes in the world are reduced by 20% but only that the prices of all shoes for sale in his shop are reduced by 20%. A student declares, "Prof. Gauker's assignment is impossible". This means not that an assignment that someone has given to Prof. Gauker is impossible but that the assignment that Prof. Gauker has given to his students is impossible.