Assertion vs Statement

logicterminology

I am not a English native speaker. I apologize if I ask something obvious. According to my knowledge, a statement is a sentence about specific numbers, sets or other objects, the sentence being either true or false. So

$3\times 7=11$

is a (false) statement, that continuity does not imply differentiability is a (true) statement, that the polynomial $n^2+n-41$ produces prime numbers for all integer values of $n$ from 1 to 40 is a (true) statement and so on.

Nevertheless, (http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/geroch-math-assertions.pdf)

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According to the author that all prime numbers are odd is an assertion.

I am puzzled a bit. Are the words statement and assertion (and the verbs state and assert) interchangeable? Is assertion preferable?

Best Answer

There are three distinct concepts to consider. Take the sentence “some elephants can fly.” The grammatical form of this sentence indicates that it is a proposition since it has a truth value, but to assert it is to claim that there really are elephants that can fly. This sentence can be understood as a judgement, i.e. as saying that “some elephants can fly” is true.

To summarize, an assertion claims the reference of sentence, a statement is a sentence with a truth value, and a statement can be judged as true/false.

These concepts have been discussed by the likes of Frege, Russell/Whitehead, Wittgenstein, Kripke, Tarski, and so on. Russell and Frege are probably the most pertinent source to look into for specific references, and the SEP article “Assertion” can give an overview of the full context.