Why do we need propositions? — Banno

Scott Soames explains in Understanding Truth. A proposition is not any particular sentence. It's not any particular utterance.

If you and I assert the same thing, it's a proposition we're asserting.

Yep. Magic. The statement you make when you are not making a statement.

Yep. Magic. The statement you make when you are not making a statement. — Banno

Yes. I think it's the remnant of what our ancestors took to be a divine voice. Language became so prominent for humans that we interact with the world as if it can speak.

True propositions are the world's speech. False propositions come from our mistakes and deceit.

How on earth would we prove/disprove realism/antirealism? A thing ceases to exist when no one is perceiving it. We need to resort to a method indistinguishable from magic to do so; a buddhist monk once told me something to the effect that the point to enlightenment, nirvana, is to see (observe) without seeing (observing). Interesting. :chin:

I am quite puzzled about the nature of negation in general. A sentence like "The cup is not red" seems to make a statement which requires some kind of mental reference to make. A positive sentence like "The cup is blue" on the other hand can serve as definition, i.e. the cup is to be called "blue".
Thinking this through, someone not knowing the word blue, would not be able to come up with "The cup is blue". Applying classical logic this implies the negation of that sentence. There is no doubt about this.

A thing ceases to exist when no one is perceiving it. — TheMadFool

No.