The discovery of social acts

pp. 129-143

in: James Dubois, Judgment and Sachverhalt, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

Every sentence is significant ..., but not every sentence is a statement-making sentence, rather only those in which there is truth or falsity. There is not truth or falsity in all sentences: a prayer is a sentence but is neither true nor false. The present investigation deals with the statement-making sentence; the others we can dismiss, since consideration of them belongs rather to the study of rhetoric or poetry. (17a 1–5, Edghill translation, modified)