Truth and Context

Abstract

It is widely, though not universally, acknowledged that the truth of fully determinate propositions often depend on the contexts in which they occur. In addition to that fairly innocuous claim I venture the much bolder claim that context can aid in demonstrating the truth of a number of propositions that ascribe homely properties to fictional (and, I assume, non-existent) subjects. After summarizing salient and what I deem to be worthwhile objections to my view, I set out to expose their flaws. With that in the archives I build the case for my conclusion. It consists in showing how accounting for differences among cases make judgments of truth and falsity unavoidable, and how to circumvent some familiar pitfalls.