1,721,124 research outputs found
Assertion: An Introduction and Overview
No full textThis chapter starts by discussing the origins of this book, which began at a conference on assertion held at the Arché Philosophical Research Centre, St Andrews, Scotland in June 2007. The aim of this book (and the conference) was to bring together new work on assertion by leading epistemologists and philosophers of language. Although the topic of assertion is central to both these areas, work between them is insufficiently integrated. This book aims to force integration.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
Resenha crítica de CAPPELEN, Herman. Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Full text linkThis is a critical review of Herman Cappelen’s Fixing Language (2018), an excellent and thought-provoking introduction to a hot topic in metaphilosophy: conceptual engineering, which defines the process of evaluating and improving/revising our representational devices (popular known as concepts). Here, I first present an overview of the book, summarizing his General Theory of conceptual engineering. Second, I point out some limits of the General Theory, in particular the putative consequence of his semantic externalism, the Lack of Control thesis. According to it, the processes behind changes in meaning are too complex and amorphous for revisionary projects to be generally successful. However, I claim that a proper investigation of Lack of Control demands us to look at the sciences, especially the social sciences, something absent in Cappelen’s book. Furthermore, I remember that many conceptual engineers do not put forward large-scale revisions, but rather local ones – i.e., restricted to specific scientific and institutional contexts, and therefore more feasible and potentially relevant.Resenha/Review de/of: Cappelen, Herman. Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018
Resenha crítica de CAPPELEN, Herman. Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Full text linkThis is a critical review of Herman Cappelen’s Fixing Language (2018), an excellent and thought-provoking introduction to a hot topic in metaphilosophy: conceptual engineering, which defines the process of evaluating and improving/revising our representational devices (popular known as concepts). Here, I first present an overview of the book, summarizing his General Theory of conceptual engineering. Second, I point out some limits of the General Theory, in particular the putative consequence of his semantic externalism, the Lack of Control thesis. According to it, the processes behind changes in meaning are too complex and amorphous for revisionary projects to be generally successful. However, I claim that a proper investigation of Lack of Control demands us to look at the sciences, especially the social sciences, something absent in Cappelen’s book. Furthermore, I remember that many conceptual engineers do not put forward large-scale revisions, but rather local ones – i.e., restricted to specific scientific and institutional contexts, and therefore more feasible and potentially relevant.Resenha/Review de/of: Cappelen, Herman. Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018
Davidson: sobre el-decir-lo-mismo
Full text linkEn este artículo se presentan tres elementos básicos para caracterizar una semántica neodavidsoniana. Primero, el rechazo a la tesis según la cual el contenido semántico es idéntico al contenido del acto de habla de una emisión; segundo, la adopción de un minimalismo semántico como el dominio más apropiado para desarrollar una teoría veritativo condicional del significado para el lenguaje natural y, finalmente, la aceptación de un pluralismo del acto de habla entendido como el dominio apropiado para dar cuenta de cuándo dos emisiones dicen lo mismo. Estos elementos dan cuenta de uno de los asuntos fundamentales de la filosofía del lenguaje del siglo XX, a saber, cómo el contenido semántico puede ser compartido en contextos diferentes
On describing
No full textThe overarching topic of this dissertation is the semantics and pragmatics of definite descriptions. It focuses on the question whether sentences such as ‘the king of France is bald’ literally assert the existence of a unique king (and therefore are false) or simply presuppose the existence of such a king (and thus fail to express propositions). One immediate obstacle to resolving this question is that immediate truth value judgments about such sentences (sentences with non-denoting descriptions) are particularly unstable; some elicit a clear intuition of falsity whereas others simply seem awkward or strange. Because of these variations, truth value judgments are generally considered unreliable. In the first chapter of the dissertation, an explanation of this phenomenon is developed. It is observed that when these types of sentences are considered in the context of a discourse, a systematic pattern in judgments emerges. This pattern, it is argued, should be explained in terms of certain pragmatic factors, e.g. whether a speaker’s utterance is interpreted as cooperative. A detailed and general explanation of the phenomenon is then presented which draws importantly on recent research in the semantics and pragmatics of questions and focus. It is shown that the behavior of these judgments can be systematically explained, that truth value judgments are not as unreliable as standardly assumed, and that the proposed explanation best supports the conclusion that definite descriptions presuppose rather than assert existence.
In the second chapter, the following problem is investigated. If definite descriptions are assumed to literally assert existence, a sentence such as ‘Hans wants the ghost in his attic to be quiet’ is incorrectly predicted to be true only if Hans wants there to be a (unique) ghost in his attic. This prediction is often considered evidence against Russell’s quantificational analysis and evidence in favor of the referential analysis of Frege and Strawson. Against this claim, it is demonstrated that this problem is a general problem about the existence commitments of natural language determiners, i.e. not an argument in favor of a referential analysis. It is shown that in order to avoid these undesirable predictions, quite radical changes to the semantic framework are required. For example, it must be assumed that a sentence of the form ‘The F is G’ has the open sentence ‘x is G’ as its asserted content. A uniform quantificational and presuppositional analysis of definites and indefinites is outlined which by exploiting certain features of so-called dynamic semantics unproblematically assumes that the asserted contents indeed are open sentences.
In view of the proposed quantificational/presuppositional analysis, the dissertation is concluded by a rejection of the argument put forward by Reimer (1998) and Devitt (2004) that definite descriptions are ambiguous between attributive (quantificational) and referential (indexical) uses. Reimer and Devitt’s argument is (in contrast to Donnellan, 1966) based primarily on the assumption that definite descriptions are conventionally used to communicate singular thoughts and that the conventional meaning of a definite description therefore must be fundamentally indexical/directly referential. I argue that this argument relies crucially on tacit assumptions about semantic processing for which no empirical evidence is provided. I also argue that the argument is too general; if sound, it would be an argument for an indexical treatment of most, if not all, other determiners. I then conclude by demonstrating that the view does not explain any new data and thus has no clear motivation.
In short, this dissertation provides a detailed pragmatic explanation of a long-standing puzzle about truth value judgments and then outlines a novel dynamic semantic analysis of definites and indefinites. This analysis solves a significant problem about existence commitments — a problem that neither Russell’s nor the Frege/Strawson analysis are equipped to handle. This analysis is then defended against the claim that definite descriptions are ambiguous
The role of intuitions in the philosophy of art
No full textAccording to Herman Cappelen and Bernard Molyneux, it is widely assumed that intuitions are used as evidence for philosophical theories in all areas of philosophy. Philosophers' self-image, however, is wrong. This wrong self-image, so they argue, has merely misled metaphilosophers, but has had no substantial implications for philosophical practices. This article examines the role of intuitions in the project of defining art. In accordance with Cappelen and Molyneux, I demonstrate that philosophers of art believe intuitions are used as evidence for their definitions of art and that this belief is false. In contrast with Cappelen and Molyneux, I maintain that philosophers of art's false self-image causes substantial damage to their philosophical practice. Firstly, intuitions often are used as persuaders, while, in fact, they do not add philosophical force to the defended position. Secondly, and more importantly, intuition-talk and philosophers' wrong self-image are partly responsible for the confusion surrounding the kind of analysis a definition of art offers. Using intuitions as evidence presupposes a descriptive approach to the definition of art. However, since intuitions are not used as evidence, it is unclear whether a definition offers a descriptive, normative or metaphysical analysis of art
Indexicality and presupposition : explorations beyond truth-conditional information
No full textThis thesis consists of four essays and an introduction dedicated to two main topics: indexicality and presupposition.
The first essay is concerned with an alleged problem for the standard treatment of indexicals on which their linguistic meanings are functions from context to content (so-called characters). Since most indexicals have their content settled, on an occasion of use, by the speaker’s intentions, some authors have argued that this standard picture is inadequate. By demonstrating that intentions can be seen as a parameter of the kind of context that characters operate on, these arguments are rejected. In addition, it is argued that a more recent, variable-based framework is naturally interpreted as an intention-sensitive semantics.
The second essay is devoted to the phenomenon of descriptive uses of indexicals on which such an expression seems to contribute, not its standard reference as determined by its character, but a property to the interpretation. An argument that singular readings of the cases in question are incoherent is shown to be incorrect, and an approach to descriptive readings is developed on which they arise from e-type uses akin to other well known cases. Further, descriptive readings of the relevant kind are seen to arise only in the presence of adverbs of quantification, and all sentences in which such an adverb takes scope over an indexical are claimed to be ambiguous between a referential and an e-type (descriptive) reading.
The third essay discusses a version of the variable analysis of pronouns on which their descriptive meanings are relegated to the so-called phi-features – person, gender and number. In turn, the phi-features are here seen as triggering semantic presuppositions that place constraints on the definedness of pronouns, and ultimately of sentences in which they appear. It is argued that the descriptive information contributed by the phi-features diverges radically from presuppositional information of both semantic and pragmatic varieties on several dimensions of comparison, and instead the main role of the phi-features is seen to be that of guiding hearers’ attempts to ascertain the speaker’s intentions. The fourth essay addresses an issue concerning the treatment of presuppositions in dynamic semantics. Representing a semantic treatment of pragmatic presuppositions, the dynamic framework is shown to incorrectly regard conversational infelicity as sufficient for semantic undefinedness, given the standard way of defining truth in terms of context change. Further, it is shown that a proposal for a solution fail to make correct predictions for epistemic modals. A novel framework is developed on which context change potentials act on contexts that have more structure than the contexts usually countenanced by dynamic semantics, and it is shown that this framework derives truth from context change while
making correct predictions for both presuppositions and modals
X-Phi without Intuitions?
No full textOne central purpose of experimental philosophy (hereafter, x-phi) is to criticize the alleged reliance on intuitions in contemporary philosophy. In the book Philosophy without Intuitions, the author argues that philosophers don’t rely on intuitions. If those arguments are good, experimental philosophy has been engaged in an attack on a Straw man. The goal of the current chapter is to bolster the criticism of x-phi: experimental philosophy doesn’t (need to) target intuitions; its criticism of philosophical practice stands even if it isn’t the case that philosophers rely on intuitions. The aim is to convince the reader that experimental philosophers underestimate the difficulties involved in the revision this reply gestures at. They talk as if what is required is nothing but a slight terminological revision, but it is not. In this chapter, eight options for how to reformulate the x-phi project are considered. It is argued that they all fail.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
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