Luiz Carlos Pereira: The Semantics of Falsity and Negation / Response: Falsity, Negation, and Modality (original) (raw)

Abstract Luiz Carlos Pereira: In Logical Forms Chateaubriand offers a realist semantics for false elementary propositions and for true negative propositions that appeals to negative facts. Although he does not refer to Wittgenstein, he rules out "possibilist" solutions such as that of the Tractatus. In this paper I will critically discuss Chateaubriand's solution and compare it with the semantics of the Tractatus. Abstract response: In §1 I explain that my rejection of possible (and impossible) states of affairs as a basis for an account of falsity is not part of a general rejection of modal notions but is a rejection of possible and impossible entities of any sort. I then show that my account of senses and of propositions is indeed a modal account. In §2 I examine some of Wittgenstein’s ideas about falsity, as presented by Luiz Carlos, in relation to my account of falsity and negation. In §3 I discuss the modal aspects of identification for propositions.