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On a Distinction of Two Facets of Meaning and its Role in Proof-theoretic Semantics

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Abstract

I show that in the context of proof-theoretic semantics, Dummett’s distinction between the assertoric meaning of a sentence (it’s meaning when viewed as “stand alone”) and its ingredient sense (its meaning when viewed as a constituent of an embedding sentence) can be seen as a distinction between two proof-theoretic meanings of a sentence:

  1. 1.

    Meaning as a conclusion of an introduction rule in a meaning-conferring natural-deduction proof system.

  1. 2.

    Meaning as a premise of an introduction rule in a meaning-conferring natural-deduction proof system.

The effect of this distinction on compositionality of proof-theoretic meaning is discussed.

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Francez, N. On a Distinction of Two Facets of Meaning and its Role in Proof-theoretic Semantics. Log. Univers. 9, 121–127 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11787-015-0118-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11787-015-0118-8

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