Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
sortal. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
sortal, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
sortal in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
sortal you have here. The definition of the word
sortal will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
sortal, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From sort + -al. Coined by John Locke in 1690 in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Adjective
sortal (not comparable)
- (philosophy) Of or pertaining to a sort, or kind.
1690, John Locke, “Chapter III: Of General Terms”, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book III:But, it being evident that things are ranked under names into sorts or species, only as they agree to certain abstract ideas, to which we have annexed those names, the essence of each genus, or sort, comes to be nothing but that abstract idea which the general, or sortal (if I may have leave so to call it from sort, as I do general from genus), name stands for.
- (philosophy) Having the character of a sortal.
2008 January 8, John E. Sarnecki, “Sortals for Dummies”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 2, →DOI:The possession of sortal concepts is a prerequisite for philosophers like Wiggins or Lowe in determining the nature and extent of our referential capacities.
Noun
sortal (plural sortals)
- (philosophy) A type of universal that defines a particular sort of object
1974, P.F. Strawson, Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar, →ISBN, page 135:And central to this notion is the distinction, among semantic types of g-words, between sortals on the one hand and non-sortal general-character-specifiers on the other
Derived terms
See also
- Sortals in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Anagrams