Ideas of Peter F. Strawson, by Theme

[British, 1919 - 2006, Father of Galen Strawson. Professor at Oxford University.]

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1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 1. Nature of Metaphysics

7920	Descriptive metaphysics aims at actual structure, revisionary metaphysics at a better structure

1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 6. Metaphysics as Conceptual

7922	Descriptive metaphysics concerns unchanging core concepts and categories

1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 5. Linguistic Analysis

7921	Close examination of actual word usage is the only sure way in philosophy

3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 2. Correspondence to Facts

10842

The fact which is stated by a true sentence is not something in the world

10843

Facts aren't exactly true statements, but they are what those statements say

3. Truth / F. Semantic Truth / 1. Tarski's Truth / a. Tarski's truth definition

10844

The statement that it is raining perfectly fits the fact that it is raining

3. Truth / F. Semantic Truth / 2. Semantic Truth

10841

The word 'true' always refers to a possible statement

5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 1. Logical Form

8358	There are no rules for the exact logic of ordinary language, because that doesn't exist

5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 2. Descriptions / c. Theory of definite descriptions

6413	'The present King of France is bald' presupposes existence, rather than stating it [Grayling]

8354	Russell asks when 'The King of France is wise' would be a true assertion

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 2. Abstract Objects / b. Need for abstracta

16980

We need a logical use of 'object' as predicate-worthy, and an 'ontological' use

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences

16979

It makes no sense to ask of some individual thing what it is that makes it that individual

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 4. Other Minds / d. Other minds by analogy

9282	I can only apply consciousness predicates to myself if I can apply them to others

16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / a. Self needs body

9263	A person is an entity to which we can ascribe predicates of consciousness and corporeality

19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 6. Meaning as Use

8356	The meaning of an expression or sentence is general directions for its use, to refer or to assert

19. Language / B. Reference / 3. Direct Reference / c. Social reference

10430

Reference is mainly a social phenomenon [Sainsbury]

19. Language / B. Reference / 4. Descriptive Reference / b. Reference by description

10448

If an expression can refer to anything, it may still instrinsically refer, but relative to a context [Bach]

19. Language / B. Reference / 5. Speaker's Reference

8355	Expressions don't refer; people use expressions to refer

8357	If an utterance fails to refer then it is a pseudo-use, though a speaker may think they assert something

19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 3. Predicates

9281	The idea of a predicate matches a range of things to which it can be applied