Editing Proposition (section)

{{Short description|Bearer of truth or falsity}}
{{About|the term in philosophy and logic|the use in mathematics|Proposition (mathematics)|other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Preposition}}
{{merge from|Statement (logic)|discuss=Talk:Proposition#Merger_proposal|date=December 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2023}}
A '''proposition''' is a central concept in the [[philosophy of language]], [[semantics]], [[logic]], and related fields, often characterized as the primary [[Truth-bearer|bearer]] of [[truth]] or [[False (logic)|falsity]]. Propositions are also often characterized as the type of [[abstract object|object]] that [[Sentence (linguistics)#By purpose|declarative sentences]] [[Denotation|denote]]. For instance, the sentence "The sky is blue" denotes the proposition that the sky is blue. However, crucially, propositions are not themselves [[Phrase|linguistic expressions]]. For instance, the [[English language|English]] sentence "Snow is white" denotes the same proposition as the [[German language|German]] sentence "Schnee ist weiß" even though the two sentences are not the same. Similarly, propositions can also be characterized as the objects of [[belief]] and other [[propositional attitude]]s. For instance if someone believes that the sky is blue, the object of their belief is the proposition that the sky is blue.

Formally, propositions are often modeled as [[Function (mathematics)|functions]] which map a [[possible world]] to a [[truth value]]. For instance, the proposition that the sky is blue can be modeled as a function which would return the truth value <math>T </math> if given the actual world as input, but would return <math>F </math> if given some alternate world where the sky is green. However, a number of alternative formalizations have been proposed, notably the '''structured propositions''' view.

Propositions have played a large role throughout the history of [[logic]], [[linguistics]], [[philosophy of language]], and related disciplines. Some researchers have doubted whether a consistent definition of propositionhood is possible, [[David Lewis (philosopher)|David Lewis]] even remarking that "the conception we associate with the word ‘proposition’ may be something of a jumble of conflicting desiderata". The term is often used broadly and has been used to refer to various related concepts.