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Genericity and Logical Form
Author(s) -
Koslicki Kathrin
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0017.00120
Subject(s) - character (mathematics) , meaning (existential) , linguistics , order (exchange) , george (robot) , philosophy , epistemology , computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematics , geometry , finance , economics
In this paper I propose a novel treatment of generic sentences, which proceeds by means of different levels of analysis. According to this account, all generic sentences (I‐generics and D‐generics alike) are initially treated in a uniform manner, as involving higher‐order predication (following the work of George Boolos, James Higginbotham and Barry Schein on plurals). Their non‐uniform character, however, re‐emerges at subsequent levels of analysis, when the higher‐order predications of the first level are cashed out in terms of quantification over individuals: this last step, I suggest, involves knowledge concerning the lexical meaning of the predicates in question.