Wondering about Witches

Some people wonder whether there are witches, others believe that there are some, and many think there are none. All of them raise hard issues about meaning and propositional attitudes. Suppose, for example, that there are no witches. Then it seems the term ‘witch’ refers to nothing. So, plausibly, the word ‘witch’ means nothing. Hence, sentences that contain the term ‘witch’, such as ‘There are no witches’, say nothing. Therefore, a person who sincerely utters ‘There are no witches’ says nothing, and so says nothing that she believes. Similarly, for a person who utters ‘There are witches’. Likewise, the sentence ‘Are there any witches?’ expresses nothing, and so a person who sincerely utters it asks nothing that she is wondering about. Therefore, the attitude ascriptions ‘Some people wonder whether there are witches’ and ‘Some people think that there are no witches’ say nothing, and so are untrue. But surely these attitude ascriptions are meaningful and true, even if there are no witches.