more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The generalising function and the ontological function of discourse are elided in the traditional quantifier.
Gist of Idea
Traditional quantifiers combine ordinary language generality and ontology assumptions
Source
Rom Harré (Laws of Nature [1993], 5)
Book Ref
Harré,Rom: 'Laws of Nature' [Duckworth 1993], p.111
A Reaction
This simple point strikes me as helping enormously to disentangle the mess created by over-emphasis on formal logic in ontology, and especially in the Quinean concept of 'ontological commitment'.