1. Explain the following terms and concepts:
*sense *synthetic sentences *analytic sentences *contradiction *set of sufficient conditions * necessary condition *sense properties of sentences * stereotype
2. Assume that John is the same person in each of the following sentences. Now, if the sentence John is a bachelor is true, then is it true or false that
a. John is male. c. John is human.
b. John is unmarried. d. John is adult.
All of (2a-d) are true, according to the intuitions of a typical native speaker, though 2d might be open to debate, depending on how adult is defined.
We can say that the sentence John is a bachelor entails (a-d), because the truth of (a-d) necessarily follows from the proposition contained in the sentence John is a bachelor.
The notion of entailment will be explored in greater detail in Unit 10.
For questions 3-7, indicate whether each sentence is analytic, synthetic, or a contradiction. If you are not sure about a sentence, say why it is not a clear-cut case.
3. a. All bachelors are unmarried. Analytic
b. All bachelors are happy. Synthetic
c. All bachelors are married. Contradiction
Identification of the items in 3 seems reasonably clear-cut.
4. a. All misers are stingy. Analytic (?)
b. All misers are rich. Synthetic (?)
c. All misers waste money. Contradiction (?)
d. All misers are miserable. Synthetic (?)
The items in 4 are more problematic. The suggested answers are based on most native speakers' intuitions about the meaning of miser, but are open to debate.
5. a. All carnivores eat meat. Analytic (?)
b. All mammals produce live young. Analytic (?)
The items in 5 are also problematic. Pandas are classed by zoologists as carnivores, but they only eat bamboo. Yet most animals classed as carnivores do eat meat. Nearly all mammals do produce live young, and yet the platypus lays eggs. Interpreting these sentences as analytic seems to be based on naïve speaker knowledge rather than expert knowledge.
6. a. My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor. Contradiction
b. This stool has a broken back. Unclear
Labeling 6b depends on how stool is defined.
7. a. Kings are monarchs. Analytic
b. Kings are male. Analytic
c. Kings are fathers. Synthetic
d. Fahd bin Abdulaziz al Saud was the last king. Synthetic
e. Witches are wicked. Synthetic
f. My brother is an only child. Contradiction
g. Puppies are human. Contradiction
Comment: 7d is synthetic because there are nations whose last king was not George Fahd bin Abdulaziz al Saud.
8. Explain why synthetic sentences are potentially informative whereas analytic sentences and contradictions are not.
Synthetic sentences are potentially informative because they contain information that could be either true or false, depending on the circumstances. If we are told that a particular king is also a father, for example, that is informative, because there is nothing in the sense of king that makes specific reference to this sort of information, which must be supplied by a particular context. On the other hand, knowing that a king is a monarch is uninformative, because the sense of king already contains the monarch notion within it. A similar explanation could be given for contradictions.
9. Give some necessary conditions for the following lexical items:
a. table c. sister b. car d. teacher
Answers will vary widely.
10. Is it possible to list a set of necessary and sufficient conditions to fully and adequately characterize the lexical item mother? Try to come up with a couple such sets of conditions and then explain why they are insufficient.
(Hint: think of all the current terms which contain the word mother, including birth mother, surrogate mother, stepmother, biological mother, adoptive mother, natural mother, foster mother, unwed mother, genetic mother, etc.)
No. As with Wittgenstein's game example discussed in this unit, the concept of mother is too complex, as shown by the many examples given above.
11. What is the difference between prototype and stereotype (or semantic feature) as set forth in this unit?
A prototype is an actual entity in the extension of a predicate that is the most central member. A stereotype is an abstract specification or list of typical features of the prototype.
