TY - JOUR
T1 - Plural quantification logic
T2 - A critical appraisal
AU - Ben-Yami, Hanoch
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2009 Association for Symbolic Logic.
PY - 2009/3/1
Y1 - 2009/3/1
N2 - I first show that most authors who developed Plural Quantification Logic (PQL) argued it could capture various features of natural language better than can other logic systems. I then show that it fails to do so: it radically departs from natural language in two of its essential features; namely, in distinguishing plural from singular quantification and in its use of an 'is-one-of' relation. Next, I sketch a different approach that is more adequate than PQL for capturing plural aspects of natural language semantics and logic. I conclude with a criticism of the claim that PQL should replace natural language for specific philosophical or scientific purposes.
AB - I first show that most authors who developed Plural Quantification Logic (PQL) argued it could capture various features of natural language better than can other logic systems. I then show that it fails to do so: it radically departs from natural language in two of its essential features; namely, in distinguishing plural from singular quantification and in its use of an 'is-one-of' relation. Next, I sketch a different approach that is more adequate than PQL for capturing plural aspects of natural language semantics and logic. I conclude with a criticism of the claim that PQL should replace natural language for specific philosophical or scientific purposes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84989204623&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1755020309090108
DO - 10.1017/S1755020309090108
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84989204623
SN - 1755-0203
VL - 2
SP - 208
EP - 232
JO - Review of Symbolic Logic
JF - Review of Symbolic Logic
IS - 1
ER -