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Propositions

Though the word proposition is used in natural English, we are concerned here with its meaning as a technical term in philosophy.

In its technical uses the term has had a variety of meanings, and has been accused of having no meaning.

For example, Russell, in Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy says:

We mean by a "proposition" primarily a form of words which expresses what is either true or false.

More frequently in recent times propositions have been taken to be the meanings of indicative sentences, or equivalence classes induced by the relation over statements of "having the same meaning". Quine takes issue in his Philosophy of Logic with propositions as meanings of sentences, on the ground that a precondition of this being coherent is that there is objective content in the claim that two sentences have the same meaning, which he disputes.

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