Water and Ice
Adam Sennet · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 2006
(I) In Beyond Rigidity, Scott Soames argues that the term ‘water’ is ambiguous. On one disambiguation, it is an expansive predicate that is true of any quantity of H2O whatsoever. On a second disambiguation, it is a restricted predicate, true only of liquid quantities of H2O. Analytic philosophers are fond of claiming ambiguities where there are none. This, I shall argue, is the case with the claimed expansive-restricted ambiguity. The predicate-kind ambiguity I have no quibble with.