Research Group
in Analytic Philosophy

Abstract

A well-known problem, due to Carnap, concerns how the meanings of logical connectives can possibly arise from the rules governing their use. Much less discussed is an analogous problem for quantifiers. This paper argues that the problem for quantifiers is serious, resists the usual solutions, and (on plausible semantic and metasemantic assumptions) forces us into a radically revisionary view of quantifiers and the truth-conditions of quantified sentences. I go on to explore some logical properties of quantifiers with these ‘sentential' truth-conditions, and the philosophical implications this new perspective on quantification comes with.