28、Exploring the Nature of Sentences and Words in Logic and Language

Exploring the Nature of Sentences and Words in Logic and Language

1. Logic and Ordinary Language

Logic discusses sentences and words in their ordinary sense, not in an abstract one. When we talk about language, we use everyday language. For example, when we say “Here’s a sentence that’s been written down” or “No, that only looks like a sentence but isn’t one,” we are using the ordinary understanding of sentences.

The question “What is a word?” is similar to “What is a chess piece?” We are dealing with the spatial - temporal phenomenon of language, just like we talk about the use of chess pieces in a game rather than their physical properties.

In philosophy, we can’t achieve greater generality than what we express in life and science. A specta