Language in the World - A Philosophical Enquiry

Klappentext What makes the words we speak mean what they do? Possible-worlds semantics articulates the view that the meanings of words contribute to determining, for each sentence, which possible worlds would make the sentence true, and which would make it false. M. J. Cresswell argues that the non-semantic facts on which such semantic facts supervene are facts about the causal interactions between the linguistic behaviour of speakers and the facts in the world that they are speaking about, and that the kind of causation involved is best analysed using David Lewis's account of causation in terms of counterfactuals. Although philosophers have worked on the question of the connection between meaning and linguistic behaviour, it has mostly been without regard to the work done in possible-worlds semantics, and Language in the world is the first book-length examination of this problem. Zusammenfassung What makes the words we speak mean what they do? M. J. Cresswell answers this question in a book-length examination of the connection between meaning and linguistic behaviour from the point of view of possible-worlds semantics. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface; Introduction; 1. A simple formal language; 2. Predicates and functors; 3. The isomorphism problem; 4. Quantification; 5. Transmundism; 6. Putnam's 'Meaning of 'meaning''; 7. Lewis on languages and language; 8. Causation and semantics; 9. Belief-desire psychology; 10. Direct knowledge; References; Index.

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: M. J. Cresswell, M.J. Cresswell, Cresswell M. J., Cresswell M. J.
• Edition: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre Relié
• Sortie: 03.03.1994
• EAN: 9780521445627
• ISBN: 978-0-521-44562-7
• Pages: 172
• Thèmes: Cambridge Studies in Philosoph; Cambridge Studies in Philosophy
• Catégories: Sciences humaines, art, musique > Linguistique et littérature > Autres langues / Autres littératures; Philosophy of Language, PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Language, Social & political philosophy, social and political philosophy