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Article/Publication Details

What Do the Existential Quantifier and Existence Have in Common?

(Original title: Co má existenční kvantifikátor společného s existencí?)
Organon F, 2007, vol. 14, No 2, pp. 177-186.
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Abstract

Recent extensional logic considers a formula containing existential quantifier as an adequate way of rewriting a statement about the existence of something. Quine even claims that “to be is to be the value of a variable”. That means that if we consider a theory to be true, we have to treat all members of an appropriate universe as existing. This article intends to point out a difficulty in this conception: The primary task of an existential quantifier is only to claim that something can be found in a universe, whatever the universe is.

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