Does Semantic Relationism Solve Frege’s Puzzle?
Journal of Philosophical Logic 46 (1):97-118 (2017)
Abstract
In a series of recent works, Kit Fine, 605–631, 2003, 2007) has sketched a novel solution to Frege’s puzzle. Radically departing from previous solutions, Fine argues that Frege’s puzzle forces us to reject compositionality. In this paper we first provide an explicit formalization of the relational semantics for first-order logic suggested, but only briefly sketched, by Fine. We then show why the relational semantics alone is technically inadequate, forcing Fine to enrich the syntax with a coordination schema. Given this enrichment, we argue, that that the semantics is compositional. We then examine the deep consequences of this result for Fine’s proposed solution to Frege’s puzzle. We argue that Fine has mis-diagnosed his own solution–his attempted solution does not deny compositionality. The correct characterization of Fine’s solution fits him more comfortably among familiar solutions to the puzzle.
Categories
(categorize this paper)
ISBN(s)
PhilPapers/Archive ID
PICDSR
Revision history
Archival date: 2016-12-12
View upload history
View upload history

Frege's Puzzle.Salmon, Nathan U.
Meaning and Necessity.Carnap, Rudolf
Semantic Relationism.Fine, Kit
View all 17 references / Add more references

Relational Approaches to Frege's Puzzle.Gray, Aidan
Frege's Puzzle and Semantic Relationism.Barua, Surajit
Added to PP index
2016-01-07
Total downloads
344 ( #7,152 of 37,176 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
41 ( #8,660 of 37,176 )
2016-01-07
Total downloads
344 ( #7,152 of 37,176 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
41 ( #8,660 of 37,176 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Monthly downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks to external links.