Abstract
Logical structure may explain the necessity and a priori knowability of such truths as that if A is red then A is either red or green. But this explanation cannot be extended to sentences that, while necessary and knowable a priori, do not wear the appropriate logical structure on their sleeves – sentences like ''if A is a point and A is red, then A is not green,'' or ''if A is a sphere, then A is not a cube.'' The real origin of these sentences' necessity and a priori knowability is a relationship between the meanings of their component atomic sentences – a relationship which cannot be systematically reduced to logical structure by translating those atomic sentences into any kind of ''ideal'' language. Moreover, this kind of relationship is one to which any atomic sentences are susceptible if they have a classifying, or comparison-implying, content. Arguably, then, all atomic sentences are capable of being related to others in ways that are necessary and knowable a priori.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Black, M.: 1954, 'Carnap on Semantics and Logic', Essay XIV in his Problems of Analysis, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 273 ff.
Carnap, R.: 1936, 'Testability and Meaning', Philosophy of Science 3(4), 441.
Carnap, R.: 1956, 'Meaning Postulates', Appendix B in the enlarged edition of Meaning and Necessity, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 227.
Etchemendy, J.: 1990, The Concept of Logical Consequence, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hume, D.: 1748, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
Körner, S.: 1966, Experience and Theory: An Essay in the Philosophy of Science, The Humanities Press, New York.
Lewis, C. I.: 1934, 'Experience and Meaning', in Herbert Feigl and Wilfrid Sellars (eds.), Readings in Philosophical Analysis, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York, 1949, 133; reprinted from The Philosophical Review 43.
Pap, A.: 1957, 'Once More: Colors and the Synthetic A Priori', The Philosophical Review 66, 94–99.
Putnam, H.: 1956, 'Reds, Greens, and Logical Analysis', The Philosophical Review 65, 206–217.
Putnam, H.: 1957, 'Red and Green All Over Again: A Rejoinder to Arthur Pap', The Philosophical Review 66, 100–103.
Putnam, H.: 1981, Reason, Truth and History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Wittgenstein, L.: 1921, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
Wittgenstein, L: 1929, 'Some Remarks on Logical Form', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Suppl. IX, 162–171.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weitzman, L. NECESSITY, APRIORITY, AND LOGICAL STRUCTURE. Erkenntnis 46, 33–47 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005390617951
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005390617951