{"id":4014,"date":"2019-01-09T14:55:11","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T14:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/09\/two-senses-of-assertion\/"},"modified":"2019-01-09T14:55:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T14:55:11","slug":"two-senses-of-assertion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/09\/two-senses-of-assertion\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Senses of ‘Assertion’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed e-mails:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The crux is what is meant by \u2018assertion\u2019. Aristotle\u2019s system is quite clear. We have two terms on the left and right, and the copula in the middle, plus a negation sign which (in Latin) can either appear on the left of the copula (a parte ante<\/em>) or the right (a parte post<\/em>). Assertion = enunciation = proposition. Assertion divides into affirmation (no negation sign) and denial or negation (includes negation sign).<\/span><\/p>\n

The two terms specify precisely what is affirmed or denied in the assertion\/proposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then suppose some of John\u2019s children are sleeping. We can express this using the two term plus copula in any of the following ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7Some children fathered by John are sleeping things<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7Some things fathered by John are sleeping children<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7Some sleeping children are things fathered by John<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7Some sleeping things fathered by John are children<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these assert the existence of some children such that they sleep, and they are fathered by John.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I have no objection to the above as a setting forth of one sense of 'assertion.'  In this sense, an assertion is the content or proposition asserted.  But I  must quibble with the last sentence: "All of these [sentences\/propositions] assert  that the existence of some . . . ."  That is a loose way of talking, allowable in some contexts, but not in the present one in which we are discussing assertion, presupposition, Excluded Middle, and  cognate topics. A proposition doesn't assert anything, and neither does a sentence. People assert, and when they do, what they assert is a proposition. 
<\/span><\/p>\n

The second sense of 'assertion,' then , comes into play when we use the word to refer to a speech act.  We do various things with words: make assertions, ask questions, issue commands, express wishes,  etc. These two senses of 'assertion' must be kept separate if we are to make any headway with the really interesting questions about presupposition, excluded Middle, and the rest. 
<\/span><\/p>\n

So far I have said nothing the least bit tendentious or controversial. I have merely pointed out two senses of 'assertion.' <\/span><\/p>\n

I will now pose a problem for the view that assertion = proposition.  Suppose I give the following valid argument, an instance of modus ponens.  By 'give an argument,' I mean that I assert its premises and its conclusion as following from the premises in the presence of one or more interlocutors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If Tom is drunk, then Tom ought not drive
Tom is drunk
—–
Tom ought not drive.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If the argument is valid, as it plainly is, then, in both of its occurrences,  the sentence 'Tom is drunk' must express the same proposition.  But this cannot be the case if  a proposition is identical to an assertion. For the proposition Tom is drunk<\/em> occurs unasserted in the major, but asserted in the minor.  (To assert a conditional is not thereby to assert either its antecedent or its consequent.) Since one and the same proposition can occur unasserted in one context and asserted in another,  we must distinguish between a proposition and an assertion.
<\/span><\/p>\n

What we ought to say is that a proposition is the content of an assertion as a speech act.  A proposition cannot be the same as an assertion because there are unasserted proposition. And when a proposition is asserted, what gives it the 'assertoric quality' to coin a phrase is something external to the proposition itself, namely, a person's speech act of asserting it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ed won't accept this. But I don't understand why. Perhaps he can explain it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed e-mails: The crux is what is meant by \u2018assertion\u2019. Aristotle\u2019s system is quite clear. We have two terms on the left and right, and the copula in the middle, plus a negation sign which (in Latin) can either appear on the left of the copula (a parte ante) or the right (a parte post). … Continue reading “Two Senses of ‘Assertion’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assertion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}