De dicto/de re, or Ortcutt recapitulated

[John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>]

Invent Yourself scripsit:

> The terms "transparent", "opaque", "de re", "de dicto", "embedded
> proposition", and "casting call" are unknown to me and only confusing me
> more. 

A casting call is a theatrical event in which the producers of a play
announce that an actor is wanted to fill a certain role.

The de dicto/de re distinction (which is synonymous with the opaque/
transparent distinction) has to do with situations like the following
(due to Quine):

Suppose George sees a man sneaking around his neighborhood at night and comes to
believe that he is a spy. All unknown to George, this man (who he can't see
very well) is actually Bernard J. Ortcutt, a pillar of the community whom
George knows slightly. If you asked George, he would affirm "Bernard J. Ortcutt
is not a spy".

Now, what is the truth value of "George believes that Ortcutt is a spy"?
In the de re, or transparent, or relational sense, George does believe
that Ortcutt is a spy, since George believes that the man he saw is a spy and
the man he saw is Ortcutt. But in the de dicto, or opaque, or notional
sense, George does not believe that Ortcutt is a spy, since he is willing
to affirm the negation of this.

The distinction can be made thus:

(de dicto) George believes (Ex: x is a spy & x is Ortcutt)
(de re) Ex: x is Ortcutt & George believes (x is a spy)

where the first is true and the second false.

-- 
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
"Any legal document draws most of its meaning from context. A telegram
that says 'SELL HUNDRED THOUSAND SHARES IBM SHORT' (only 190 bits in
5-bit Baudot code plus appropriate headers) is as good a legal document
as any, even sans digital signature." --me