Abstract
We motivate and present a novel semantic theory for universal generalizations (‘every 𝐴 is a 𝐵’), contributing to a growing theoretical line that gives equal prominence to subject matter and truth conditions when modelling propositional content. Our proposed theory aligns with the presently dominant linguistic programme for capturing natural language quantifiers (the generalized quantifier framework) and demonstrably respects a package of influential theses on subject matter (e.g. that a subject matter corresponds to a set of basic questions), many of which extend in interesting and natural ways to the quantified setting. Along the way, we take a principled stand on some divisive issues: most notably, we follow Nelson Goodman in denying that universal generalizations are about individuals, relative to the domain of quantification
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Philosophy and Phenomenological Research |
Early online date | 23 Jun 2025 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 23 Jun 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2025 The Author(s). Philosophy and Phenomenological Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research LLC.