Abstract

This section deals with another problem facing the Governing Deduction, namely, the crucial semantical thesis itself. The thesis declares there cannot be thought about what is not, but the declaration itself involves thought about what is not. Thus, the thesis seems to apply to itself, and, hence, the Governing Deduction appears to be self-defeating. The section provides an Eleatic solution to this problem of self-defeat, a so-called ‘second-order defense’