Pretty standard I think.
for any two numbers, it+it=it+it
doesn't say what I mean, so we have devices like:for any two numbers, the first one plus the second one equals the
second one plus the first one.
i.e., for all x and for all y, x+y=y+x.
It's pretty clear that the last two occurrences of 'x' and 'y' in the
above are pronouns whose antecedents are the quantifier phrases. (When
the antecedents are names, then we can just put the names in—so logic
doesn't have much truck with *those* kind of variables.)
On Feb 3, at 3:05 PM, Harry Binswanger wrote:
The analogy of variables to pronouns is very good. Is that standard,
or did you come up with it?
David Auerbach
Department of Philosophy & Religion
Box 8103
NCSU
Raleigh, NC 27695-8103