Michael

But presumably more can be said about whether or not aliens exist, whether or not dinosaurs existed, whether or not I will win the lottery next week, ...

It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be an examination of "p" is true iff p. I think it's both problematic and impoverished. It's problematic in tha...

Maybe, but then is there a future actuality if eternalism is not the case? Is there a past actuality if presentism is the case? Does it make sense for...

But I think there’s a more interesting approach to this topic. We start with the counterfactual sentences “if Hitler hadn’t killed himself then he wou...

I know.

Truth is a property of a sentence that correctly describes these other things. Truth is not a property of these other things and it is not identical t...

A claim about the future is a claim about what will exist in the future and about what will happen in the future. We don't need true sentences to exis...

I wouldn't say "there are dinosaurs at t", I'd say "there were dinosaurs at t", and in saying it (now) I am speaking the truth. This perhaps ties into...

That's just a matter of tense. "there were dinosaurs" is true. This doesn't require someone to have truthfully said "there are dinosaurs".

I don't see why that's a complication? Let's just replace "is true" with "is a correct description of the world". Can there be a correct description o...

No it's not.

I'm not refusing to talk about truth. I am only talking about truth. Truth is a property of sentences. Sentences do not exist as mind-independent Plat...

Which I thought I made very clear here, but I guess not.

1. Gold exists in universe B but nothing true or false is said in universe B 2. That gold exists in universe B is true in universe A and neither true ...

You seem to continually misunderstand what I am saying. "it is raining" is a correct description of the world (if it is raining). The property of bein...

I haven’t said either of those things.

There are two planets, A and B. I live on planet A. Planet B is uninhabited and rich in gold. I say "gold exists on planet B but nothing true or false...

Here are three sentences: 1. "Gold exists" is true 2. It is true that gold exists 3. Gold exists (1) and (3) do not mean the same thing; (1) describes...

There's no such thing as the truth; there's only the truth of a sentence, so this remark doesn't make much sense. What you should say is that the non-...

I don't understand what this means. The sentence "it is raining" is a sentence about the weather and is true if it is raining and false if it isn't. N...

What is so problematic about my view? Sentences are true and cardboard boxes have 8 corners. Your claim that sentences merely express (abstract) propo...

I'm not failing to distinguish them. I'm saying that the adjectives "true" and "false" apply to sentences, not to rain or gold. I think I've been very...

And as for my debate with @"Banno", there's a very simple solution; we ought be more precise with P1: P1. If someone expresses the sentence "it is rai...

I'm not denying this. I'm simply explaining the proper use of the adjectives "true" and "false". The traditional view is that there are truth-makers a...

"is true" and "is false" mean something like "is correct" and "is incorrect". They are adjectives that describe a sentence. If the world is as the sen...

Which says nothing about the conclusion, which is that if the sentence "gold exists" does not exist then gold does not exist. This is like me saying t...

You know what it means for a language to exist surely? Especially given that we have been discussing the nature of a world without a language. Sentenc...

It's just taking Tarski's account: The sentence "gold exists" is true if and only if gold exists What's suspicious about Tarski? But to make things mo...

I'm just presenting the argument. I don't care either way. But if you're not happy with the conclusion then you must provide either an alternative int...

How else would you interpret it?

No I haven't. You're just putting words in my mouth.

I mean what I say, and what I said was "gold exists".

No I don't realize that. Here are two sentences: 1. How old are you? 2. I am 25 years old. (1) is a question and (2) is a proposition. Sometimes I use...

The argument concludes via valid inferences: C2. If the sentence "gold exists" does not exist then gold does not exist

I didn't mention propositions.

It's not. The sentence "gold exists" doesn't exist if the English language doesn't exist (unless sentences are mind-independent Platonic entities). Th...

But I didn't say "it is true that gold still exists". I said "gold still exists".

You're not wrong. Gold exists and, if said, "gold exists" is true and "gold does not exist" is false. If nobody says anything then gold still exists b...

It's just the ordinary sense of "exists": the Earth exists but ghosts don't. So is it clearer if the argument is phrased like this? P1. The sentence "...

It is literally saying that the easy argument entails Platonism about propositions and that many philosophers reject propositions because of that. If ...

It was literally in the SEP article you referenced: There are people who claim that mind-independent truth-apt propositions exist.

That's not what I was getting at. I was getting at the suggestion there there is gold, there is the sentence, and there is the mind-independent propos...

If a 25 year old says "I am 25 years old" then what they say is true. If a 26 year old says "I am 25 years old" then what they say is false. If a 27 y...

I keep it simple: 1. How old are you? 2. I am 25 years old. (1) is a question and (2) is a proposition. Both are sentences. Question-sentences aren't ...

There is a) the Earth orbiting the Sun and there is b) the sentence "the Earth orbits the Sun". There's no need for c) the proposition that the Earth ...

There is gold and there is the sentence "gold exists". Why add some third thing? Having a piece of gold, a sentence, and a proposition is superfluous.

I like to keep things simple. Gold exists and we either truthfully say "gold exists" or falsely say "gold doesn't exist" (or we say nothing, and so no...

What is my worldview? I'm just talking about the adjective "true" (and the adjective "false"). I am saying that a) being true (or false) is a property...

No, I'm asserting existential generalisation and then showing what follows from it. Do you agree that the argument is valid? Do you agree that both pr...

But if you prefer, I'll make it simpler: P1. "there is gold in those hills" is true if and only if there is gold in those hills C1. Therefore, there i...