ABSTRACT
Since different sentences may be used to assert the same thing, or express the same belief, and different beliefs or assertions may result from accepting, or assertively uttering, the same sentence, propositions are not identical with sentences that express them. Intuitively, they are what different sentences, or utterances, that “say the same thing,” or express the same belief, have in common. The metaphysical challenge posed by propositions is to identify entities fitting this picture that can play the roles demanded of them in our theories.
