Meta Ontology

The topic of this essay is ''the slingshot,'' a short argument that purports to show that sentences1 designate (stand for, refer to) truth values. Versions of this argument have been used by Frege 2, Church 3, Quine4 and Davidson5; thus it is historically important, even if it immediately strikes one as shy. The argument turns on two principles, which I call substitution and redistribution. In ''Semantic Innocence and Uncompromising Situations,''6 Jon Barwise and I rejected both principles, as part of our attempt..