To φ Or Not To φ
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
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To φ Or Not To φ
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‘The present king of England is bald.’
(a) There exists something that is the present king of England;
(b) There is only one thing that is the present king of England
(c) Anything that is the present king of England is bald.
(d) There has been no king of England since 1553.
Conclusion: the proposition is false.
Am I a philosopher yet?
(a,b,c Amended from yalebooksblog:)
On (d), you might want to check the latest news out of the UK 😉
King Charles is the king of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The last monarch to be monarch of England (and Scotland and Ireland) was Queen Anne. With the Act of Union in 1707 she stopped being those things and became Queen of Great Britain. There hasn’t been a king or queen of England since.
It’s a bit about/of ambiguity. England as you well know is a part of the United Kingdom. Language is use and the vast majority of language users on the planet at this point appear to use “King of England” to refer to and include “the King of the Uk and cetera…”
I thought the Germans were supposed to be the humorless lot! 😉