Opaque context
Encyclopedia : O : OP : OPA : Opaque context
An opaque context is a linguistic context in which it is not possible to substitute co-referential terms while guaranteeing the preservation of truth values.
The term is used in philosophical theories of reference, and is to be contrasted with "transparent context". For example:
- Opacity: "Mary knows that Cicero is a great orator" is "referentially opaque"; although Cicero was also called Tully, we can't simply substitute "Tully" for "Cicero" in this context ("Mary knows that Tully is a great orator"), for Mary might not know that Tully was Cicero.
- Transparency: "Cicero was a Roman orator" is "referentially transparent"; there is no problem substituting "Tully" here: "Tully was a Roman orator".
See also
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.