Variable Objects and Truthmaking

Noun phrases like the number of people that can fit into the bus or the book John needs to write are an extremely puzzling linguistic phenomenon. This chapter argues that such noun phrases stand for objects, namely variable objects, entities that have different manifestations (as ordinary entities) in different circumstances. Variable objects unite two important notions of Fine’s philosophy: that of a variable embodiment and that of truthmaking. Variable objects fall under an extension of Fine’s notion of a variable embodiment and involve as circumstances truthmakers of entities like needs.