The Unity of The Encoding Proposition

The Unity of the Encoding PropositionAbstract: There is a family of problems under the rubric of “the unity of the proposition”. They ask how is it that (ordinary) propositions are unit wholes over and above their constituting parts, how is it that they are representational and have truth values. In this paper, we propose the very same concern regarding the Meinongian encoding propositions; those propositions that contain the encoding mode of predication rather than the ordinary exemplificational predication. Embracing such a dual mode of predication lets us interpret propositions such as “the round square is round” not only as meaningful but also as true propositions. We demonstrate how to reduce exemplification to encoding. This should dissolve the classical problem of the propositional unity, yet providing a rather new formulation of it.