How Not to Analyse Number Sentences

Abstract

ABSTRACT Number and Count Sentences like ‘The number of Martian moons is two’ and ‘Mars has two moons’ give rise to a puzzle. How can they be equivalent if only the truth of Number but not that of Count Sentences requires the existence of numbers? Proponents of Linguistic Deflationism seek to resolve this puzzle by arguing that on their correct linguistic analysis the truth of Number Sentences does not require the existence of numbers. In this paper, I argue that Katharina Felka’s recent attempt to vindicate this strategy by analysing Number Sentences as so-called specificational sentences is philosophically dissatisfying and sketch a promising alternative.