Is assertion a word

I often see the word «assertion» in books of philosophy of language or logic. They may list a sentence like

Snow is white.

Then somewhere in the context, they may write «assertion of the sentence». I’m confused about the meaning of the word «assertion». In the following sentences, which is equivalent to which?

1. Snow is white.
2. «Snow is white» is true.
3. assert snow is white
4. assert «Snow is white» is true
5. think/believe snow is white
6. think/believe «Snow is white» is true
7. say «Snow is white»

Based on my understandings of the other answers, I give some thoughts(not necessarily true) on my question. A sentence listed on a single line is an assertion like

Snow is white

But when describing the assertion somewhere in the context, we cannot write «Snow is white» is … because that is describing a sentence not an assertion. We cannot either write Snow is white is … because it is not correct in syntax. It seems the only way to repeat the assertion in context is the assertion that snow is white(or the assertion of «Snow is white») is …. That is why the word «assertion» frequently occurs in context.

So, 1,2,3,4 in the question are equivalent to each other(1,2 are equivalent according to Tarski’s T-Scheme, as are 3,4). Assert is stronger than think/believe which are stronger than say.

When people talk, they say things that might be true or false. In fancy philosophical terminology,
an assertion is simply a proposition which is an abstraction of sentences with truth conditions with the intent to communicate to others. «The house is on fire» is an assertion because it may or may not be true. «Is the house on fire» is neither true nor false, but is asking after the truth condition.

Assertions, therefore are distinguished from other sorts of utterances that don’t have truth values. «Bob swims» is an assertion because it may be he doesn’t know how or doesn’t at the moment. But «Ouch, yikes, what the?!?» Is an utterance that isn’t true at all. In English grammar, assertions are generally called declarative sentences. Other types of sentences such as exclamations, imperatives, and interrogatives don’t have truth value, that is, they aren’t true or false.

A few more distinctions can be drawn to help give context. «Bob swims» and «Bob schwimmt» are sentences or utterances, but they express the same idea, that is they are used in the same way. Thus, there is ‘Bob swims’ the sentence, and ‘Bob swims’ the proposition or idea. According to pragmatists, an assertion is a proposition which is viewed as a proposition AND an action. In this context, the terms assertive or assertoric force are sometimes used to make clear that ‘assertion’ is being used as a speech act.

Lastly, when you talk about thinking or believing propositions, you are in the realm of propositional attitudes. Thus «I believe ‘Snow is white'» is a propositional attitude because it asserts two things, «I believe X» and X. The first proposition is called the attitude towards the second.

answered Jan 31 at 17:11

In math and software engineering, assertion is a statement that must be true for all talking downstream to be valid. If the assertion is not correct, the talking downstream is not relevant, unusable, not possible to apply, like:

assert volume > 0

Assertions are important in understanding the described or programmed algorithm and its limitations.

It may be something similar here. Assertions are checked for correctness and usually the program is stopped immediately if they do not hold.

answered Feb 1 at 8:29

An assertion is simply a claim that is made without any justification. For example:

Peter is goes running every day last week

Whilst:

Peter goes running every day last week as ever morning last week I saw him running through my window.

More specifically, an assertion offers an alleged fact without supplying the justification or evidence for that fact.

answered Feb 16 at 10:45

an assertion of ownership/innocence

He presented no evidence to support his assertions.

the assertion that all men have certain unalienable rights is set forth in the Declaration of Independence

made the unlikely assertion that gravity affects light

Recent Examples on the Web

The third party undertakes the assurance review and reports on methods and processes that support the assertion.


—Martha Amram, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2023




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However, his assertion that Moscow was the victim, not the aggressor, in the conflict elicited laughter and groans from the audience.


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The Last of Us flatters the specious assertion that television drama has advanced beyond movies, but that’s no more than the preference of a couch potato, validated by the guilt and desperation that the Covid lockdowns stoked.


—Armond White, National Review, 1 Mar. 2023




But some of Hynes’ claims are very difficult to square with the historical record, including his assertion that he’s only declared bankruptcy a single time.


—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 2023




Mitchell made the assertion during an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.


—Fox News, 18 Feb. 2023




Zelensky, who repeated the assertion, condemned the attacks and used the episode as an opportunity to rally his country’s allies.


—Marc Santora, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Feb. 2023


See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘assertion.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of assertion was
in the 15th century