Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar

by Peter Frederick Strawson

This essay treats of two conceptions of subject and predicate: one which lies at the core of standard logic and another which is more closely related to surface forms of natural language. It seeks to render these two conceptions, and their divergences, intelligible by relating them both to the 'basic case' in which a subject-term designates a substantial spatial-temporal individual. In the course of developing this central theme Professor Strawson discusses, or touches on, many matters which are, or deserve to be, topics of current debate in the philosophy of language. The treatment is not technical and presupposes no more than an elementary knowledge of logic.

Genres: Philosophy

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Sir Peter Frederick Strawson FBA was an English philosopher. He was the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) from 1968 to 1987. Before that he was appointed as a college lecturer at University College, Oxford in 1947 and became a tutorial fellow the following year until 1968. On his retirement in 1987, he returned to the college and continued working there until shortly before his passing.