Fixing Reference

Fixing Reference PDF Author: Imogen Dickie
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198755619
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Imogen Dickie develops an account of aboutness-fixing for thoughts about ordinary objects, and of reference-fixing for the singular terms we use to express them. Extant discussions of this topic tread a weary path through descriptivist proposals, causalist alternatives, and attempts to combine the most attractive elements of each. The account developed here is a new beginning. It starts with two basic principles. The first connects aboutness and truth: a belief is about the object upon whose properties its truth or falsity depends. The second connects truth and justification: justification is truth conducive; in general and allowing exceptions, a subject whose beliefs are justified will be unlucky if they are not true, and not merely lucky if they are. These principles--one connecting aboutness and truth; the other truth and justification--combine to yield a third principle connecting aboutness and justification: a body of beliefs is about the object upon which its associated means of justification converges; the object whose properties a subject justifying beliefs in this way will be unlucky to get wrong and not merely luck to get right. The first part of the book proves a precise version of this principle. Its remaining chapters use the principle to explain how the relations to objects that enable us to think about them--perceptual attention; understanding of proper names; grasp of descriptions--do their aboutness-fixing and thought-enabling work. The book includes discussions of the nature of singular thought and the relation between thought and consciousness.

Fixing Reference

Fixing Reference PDF Author: Imogen Dickie
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198755619
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Get Book Here

Book Description
Imogen Dickie develops an account of aboutness-fixing for thoughts about ordinary objects, and of reference-fixing for the singular terms we use to express them. Extant discussions of this topic tread a weary path through descriptivist proposals, causalist alternatives, and attempts to combine the most attractive elements of each. The account developed here is a new beginning. It starts with two basic principles. The first connects aboutness and truth: a belief is about the object upon whose properties its truth or falsity depends. The second connects truth and justification: justification is truth conducive; in general and allowing exceptions, a subject whose beliefs are justified will be unlucky if they are not true, and not merely lucky if they are. These principles--one connecting aboutness and truth; the other truth and justification--combine to yield a third principle connecting aboutness and justification: a body of beliefs is about the object upon which its associated means of justification converges; the object whose properties a subject justifying beliefs in this way will be unlucky to get wrong and not merely luck to get right. The first part of the book proves a precise version of this principle. Its remaining chapters use the principle to explain how the relations to objects that enable us to think about them--perceptual attention; understanding of proper names; grasp of descriptions--do their aboutness-fixing and thought-enabling work. The book includes discussions of the nature of singular thought and the relation between thought and consciousness.

The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Reference

The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Reference PDF Author: Stephen Biggs
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100022676X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 601

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Book Description
This Handbook offers students and more advanced readers a valuable resource for understanding linguistic reference; the relation between an expression (word, phrase, sentence) and what that expression is about. The volume’s forty-one original chapters, written by many of today’s leading philosophers of language, are organized into ten parts: I Early Descriptive Theories II Causal Theories of Reference III Causal Theories and Cognitive Significance IV Alternate Theories V Two-Dimensional Semantics VI Natural Kind Terms and Rigidity VII The Empty Case VIII Singular (De Re) Thoughts IX Indexicals X Epistemology of Reference Contributions consider what kinds of expressions actually refer (names, general terms, indexicals, empty terms, sentences), what referring expressions refer to, what makes an expression refer to whatever it does, connections between meaning and reference, and how we know facts about reference. Many contributions also develop connections between linguistic reference and issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science.

Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science

Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science PDF Author: Jody Azzouni
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415223830
Category : Knowledge, Theory of
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
A fascinating study of the bounds between science and language; knowledge and truth. Jody Azzouni explores how the language of science transforms our fragmented investigations of the world into a unitary and seamless discourse.

Roads to Reference

Roads to Reference PDF Author: Mario Gómez-Torrente
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019258524X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
How is it that words come to stand for the things they stand for? Is the thing that a word stands for - its reference - fully identified or described by conventions known to the users of the word? Or is there a more roundabout relation between the reference of a word and the conventions that determine or fix it? Do words like 'water', 'three', and 'red' refer to appropriate things, just as the word 'Aristotle' refers to Aristotle? If so, which things are these, and how do they come to be referred to by those words? In Roads to Reference, Mario Gómez-Torrente provides novel answers to these and other questions that have been of traditional interest in the theory of reference. The book introduces a number of cases of apparent indeterminacy of reference for proper names, demonstratives, and natural kind terms, which suggest that reference-fixing conventions for them adopt the form of lists of merely sufficient conditions for reference and reference failure. He then provides arguments for a new anti-descriptivist picture of those kinds of words, according to which the reference-fixing conventions for them do not describe their reference. This book also defends realist and objectivist accounts of the reference of ordinary natural kind nouns, numerals, and adjectives for sensible qualities. According to these accounts these words refer, respectively, to 'ordinary kinds', cardinality properties, and properties of membership in intervals of sensible dimensions, and these things are fixed in subtle ways by associated reference-fixing conventions.

Laxton's Building Price Book 2002

Laxton's Building Price Book 2002 PDF Author: V B Johnson
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080546153
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 817

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Book Description
Laxton's gives you access to the most reliable and current data. All 250,000 price elements have been individually checked and updated for the 2002 edition so that your estimates are always accurate and cost competitive. Laxton's makes analytical estimating simple and straightforward by displaying a complete breakdown for all measured items under 10 separate headings, all on a single page. This shows you a complete price build-up at a glance - and gives you the option to make price adjustments wherever necessary. You can find the sections you need quickly and easily, via the special marker system on the front cover and page edges. The free CD with this price book contains Masterbill's ESTIMATOR software and fully resourced data on all the price elements in Laxtons. Not only does the CD offer fast and efficient pricing at the touch of a button, it gives details of all the resources required to do the job. Laxton's approximate estimating section gives all in pricing for quick reference on the cost of composite items such as floors helping you calculate the cost implications of using plywood sheeting rather than softwood boarding, for example. Laxton's Basic Price section gives you a quick price on hundreds of items - from concrete work to roofing materials - to save you going through hundreds of lists from suppliers, manufacturers and building merchants. Laxton's Brand and Trade Names section lists over 12,000 brands and trade names and company addresses to help you locate specific items. Latest wage rates, fees and allowances All 250,000 price elements checked and updated

Management of Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the Development of More Productive and Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Management of Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the Development of More Productive and Sustainable Agricultural Systems PDF Author: J.K. Ladha
Publisher: Int. Rice Res. Inst.
ISBN: 0792334132
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Reprinted from Plant and Soil, v.174, nos.1-2 (1995), this volume is devoted to discussions on the role of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in agricultural sustainability. Papers presented on BNF in crop forage and tree legumes are augmented with discussion of integrated farming systems involving BNF, soil and N management, and recycling of legume residues. BNF by non-legumes is discussed and attempts to transform cereals into nodulating plants are critically reviewed. Also described are advances in the development of new methodologies to understand symbiotic interactions and to assess N-2 fixation in the field; means of enhancing BNF through plant and soil management; breeding and selection; problems encountered in exploiting BNF under farmers' field conditions; and promising approaches to improve BNF exploitation. Lacks a subject index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Non-Propositional Intentionality

Non-Propositional Intentionality PDF Author: Alex Grzankowski
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191046531
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
The mind is directed upon the world. There are worldly things that we have beliefs about and things in the world we desire to have happen. We find some things fearsome and others likable. The puzzle of intentionality — how it is that our minds make contact with the world — is one of the oldest and most vexed issues facing philosophers. Many contemporary philosophers and cognitive scientists have been attracted to the idea that our minds represent the world. This book explores an important assumption about representation, namely, that when we represent things in the world, we represent them as having properties, and in this way our representations have "propositional" structure. The contributors examine what the commitment to propositionalism amounts to; illuminate why one might find the thesis attractive (or unattractive); and consider ways in which one might depart from propositionalism. The hope is that this will lead towards a more complete understanding of how the mind and world are connected.

Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis

Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis PDF Author: M.R. Carter
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9780873718615
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 866

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Book Description
Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis is a practical methods manual and resource handbook that covers a wide array of methods for analyzing soil chemical, biological, biochemical, and physical properties. Soil testing for plant nutrients and methods to characterize organic soils and frozen soils are also provided. The book presents recent improvements in methodology, outlines new methods, and characterizes the best methods available for selecting appropriate analysis techniques. Methods have been selected for their accuracy, speed, and ease of duplication. References are provided for each method. The book is ideal for scientists, engineers, and students in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, geography, remote sensing, environmental science, and land-use planning.

Nitrogen Fixation in Crop Production

Nitrogen Fixation in Crop Production PDF Author: David W. Emerich
Publisher: ASA-CSSA-SSSA
ISBN: 9780891181705
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
This book presents the science, application, and politics of the use of nitrogen-fixing crop plants across the globe in various environments. Nitrogen fixation can help provide a growing population with a nutritious, environmentally friendly, sustainable food supply. From new "omics" approaches to the role of nitrogen fixation in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, from farming strategies in nonindustrialized nations to nitrogen fixation in the global economy, scientists will find the key issues and expanding research areas, and how they contribute to the next wave of advancements related to agriculture and the environment

Nitrogen Economy in Tropical Soils

Nitrogen Economy in Tropical Soils PDF Author: N. Ahmad
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400917066
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
Nitrogen Economy in Tropical Soils presents an authoritative and comprehensive state-of-the-art review on soil/plant nitrogen inter-relationships, with special reference to tropical soils and crops in aerobic and anaerobic environments. Use of isotopically labelled nitrogen in experimentation, especially in tropical environments, and recently developed analytical techniques for soil and plant materials are presented. An important aspect is the emphasis placed on the impact of the tropical environment on nitrogen transformations in the soil environment. This book should be an excellent source of information for senior undergraduate and graduate students with interest in soil/plant nitrogen inter-relationships, and for all levels of research workers in these fields.