The problem of conceivability in the cognitive theory of propositions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69967/07194773.v1i21.467Keywords:
propositions, unity of the proposition, conceivability, existence conditions, GodAbstract
One of the central aspects of cognitive theories of propositions is that truth conditions are derived from the intentional powers of agents. Propositions are types of representational cognitive acts of entertaining, that is, acts in which an agent predicates a property of an object. The problem that arises is that there seem to be propositions that will not be entertained by anyone and therefore would not exist. This difficulty will be called ’the problem of conceivability’. Scott Soames has proposed a series of existence conditions for propositions to alleviate this difficulty. In this paper it will be argued that such conditions of existence are problematic for a cognitive theory. It will also be argued that to include the existence of an infinite agent guaranteeing the existence of infinitely many propositions would undermine the foundations of cognitive theory and its naturalistic claims.
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