Truth and Falsity of Predicative Assertion in the Sophist 259e-264b
Keywords:
Plato, Sophist, truth, falsehoodAbstract
This paper aims to expound and analyze the argument about the structure of logos, on which the theory of “predicative logic” developed in Plato”s Sophist (261d-264b) is based. By distinguishing “truth” from “falsity” as “qualities” of statements, the argument enables thought and language to function as means suited to the description and study of reality. The reading of “difference” as “incompatibility” explains why “Theatetus is flying” is a false statement; but neither the example nor this reading can be taken as a definition of what a false statement is.
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