ABSTRACT
Peter Hanks uses the Russellian assertion sign “├ ”as a sign of assertively predicating, while this act is also to provide the unity of the proposition. This view leads to problems, which become most visible in his account of embedded propositions, in which Hanks introduces an operator of cancellation. I will argue in the final section that a distinction between force and mood will be able to overcome some of these problems while keeping some of Hanks's insights.
In the first section, I will explain that Frege's original use of the “├ ”sign already gives an indication of the fact that we need to make a distinction between force, mood and content. I will contrast there Frege's view with Russell's, in order to see more clearly, in the next section, where Hanks stands in relation to the tradition. In this second section, some problems with Hanks's position will be noted.
