philosophy-of-language

Now (obviously) a sentence__ truth__ven when we hold the sentence__ meaning fixed__epends on which world we are considering. __rown is Prime Minister_ is true in the actual world but, since Brown need not have been Prime Minister, there are countless worlds in which __rown is Prime Minister_ is false: in those worlds, Brown did not succeed Tony Blair, or never went into politics, or never even existed. And in some other worlds, someone else is Prime Minister _ David Cameron, P. F. Strawson, me, Madonna, or Daffy Duck. In still others, there is no such office as Prime Minister, or not even a Britain; and so on and so forth. So a given sentence or proposition varies its truth-value from world to world.

It is a tragicomic fact that our proper upbringing has become an ally of the secret police. (...) The "Tell the truth!" imperative drummed into us so automatically that we feel ashamed of lying even to a secret policeman.