Overlooking Conventions

Overlooking Conventions PDF Author: Michael Devitt
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030706532
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
This book criticizes the methodology of the recent semantics-pragmatics debate in the theory of language and proposes an alternative. It applies this methodology to argue for a traditional view against a group of “contextualists” and “pragmatists”, including Sperber and Wilson, Bach, Carston, Recanati, Neale, and many others. The author disagrees with these theorists who hold that the meaning of the sentence in an utterance never, or hardly ever, yields its literal truth-conditional content, even after disambiguation and reference fixing; it needs to be pragmatically supplemented in context. The standard methodology of this debate is to consult intuitions. The book argues that theories should be tested against linguistic usage. Theoretical distinctions, however intuitive, need to be scientifically motivated. Also we should not be guided by Grice’s “Modified Occam’s Razor”, Ruhl’s “Monosemantic Bias”, or other such strategies for “meaning denialism”. From this novel perspective, the striking examples of context relativity that motivate contextualists and pragmatists typically exemplify semantic rather than pragmatic properties. In particular, polysemous phenomena should typically be treated as semantic ambiguity. The author argues that conventions have been overlooked, that there’s no extensive “semantic underdetermination” and that the new theoretical framework of “truth-conditional pragmatics” is a mistake.

Overlooking Conventions

Overlooking Conventions PDF Author: Michael Devitt
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030706532
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book

Book Description
This book criticizes the methodology of the recent semantics-pragmatics debate in the theory of language and proposes an alternative. It applies this methodology to argue for a traditional view against a group of “contextualists” and “pragmatists”, including Sperber and Wilson, Bach, Carston, Recanati, Neale, and many others. The author disagrees with these theorists who hold that the meaning of the sentence in an utterance never, or hardly ever, yields its literal truth-conditional content, even after disambiguation and reference fixing; it needs to be pragmatically supplemented in context. The standard methodology of this debate is to consult intuitions. The book argues that theories should be tested against linguistic usage. Theoretical distinctions, however intuitive, need to be scientifically motivated. Also we should not be guided by Grice’s “Modified Occam’s Razor”, Ruhl’s “Monosemantic Bias”, or other such strategies for “meaning denialism”. From this novel perspective, the striking examples of context relativity that motivate contextualists and pragmatists typically exemplify semantic rather than pragmatic properties. In particular, polysemous phenomena should typically be treated as semantic ambiguity. The author argues that conventions have been overlooked, that there’s no extensive “semantic underdetermination” and that the new theoretical framework of “truth-conditional pragmatics” is a mistake.

Overlooking Conventions

Overlooking Conventions PDF Author: Michael Devitt
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030706524
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This book criticizes the methodology of the recent semantics-pragmatics debate in the theory of language and proposes an alternative. It applies this methodology to argue for a traditional view against a group of “contextualists” and “pragmatists”, including Sperber and Wilson, Bach, Carston, Recanati, Neale, and many others. The author disagrees with these theorists who hold that the meaning of the sentence in an utterance never, or hardly ever, yields its literal truth-conditional content, even after disambiguation and reference fixing; it needs to be pragmatically supplemented in context. The standard methodology of this debate is to consult intuitions. The book argues that theories should be tested against linguistic usage. Theoretical distinctions, however intuitive, need to be scientifically motivated. Also we should not be guided by Grice’s “Modified Occam’s Razor”, Ruhl’s “Monosemantic Bias”, or other such strategies for “meaning denialism”. From this novel perspective, the striking examples of context relativity that motivate contextualists and pragmatists typically exemplify semantic rather than pragmatic properties. In particular, polysemous phenomena should typically be treated as semantic ambiguity. The author argues that conventions have been overlooked, that there’s no extensive “semantic underdetermination” and that the new theoretical framework of “truth-conditional pragmatics” is a mistake.

Linguistic Luck

Linguistic Luck PDF Author: Abrol Fairweather
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192660152
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Despite the considerable attention the topic of luck has received in ethics and epistemology, very little has been published in the philosophical literature overtly on linguistic luck. The essays collected here provide the first sustained examination of the diverse forms of linguistic luck, the mechanisms available to reduce the impact of linguistic luck and how to cope with residual luck not eliminated by the causal, inferential, and intentional mechanisms which aim at its eradication. Of primary interest is not some, hitherto unnoticed widespread prevalence of luck in the determinants of meaning and communication, but rather the impressive extent to which luck is reduced or eliminated therein. Whether through casual, inferential or intentional means, the determinants of meaning and communication are impressively independent of luck and chance. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a world with human language where efforts to communicate succeed no better than chance. Linguistic communication is only possible because robust luck reducing variables are at work. The essays collected seek to understand the diversity, scope and mode of operation of luck reducing mechanisms in language. While it is not possible here to cover the full range of linguistic phenomena affected by luck, a wide range of issues in linguistics and philosophy of language are investigated, including, syntax processing, demonstrative reference, conversational implicature, testimony, lexical innovation, joint attention, communicative value, conventionalism vs. anti-conventionalism, metasemantic safety, and semantic skepticism, to name a few.

Perspectives on Pragmatics and Philosophy

Perspectives on Pragmatics and Philosophy PDF Author: Alessandro Capone
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319010115
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description
This book is about the pragmatics of language and it illustrates how pragmatics transcends the boundaries of linguistics. This volume covers Gricean pragmatics as well as topics including: conversation and collective belief, the norm of assertion, speech acts, what a context is, the distinction between semantics and pragmatics and implicature and explicature, pragmatics and epistemology, the pragmatics of belief, quotation, negation, implicature and argumentation theory, Habermas’ Universal Pragmatics, Dascal’s theory of the dialectical self, theories and theoretical discussions on the nature of pragmatics from a philosophical point of view. Conversational implicatures are generally meaning augmentations on top of explicatures, whilst explicatures figure prominently in what is said. Discussions in this work reveal their characteristics and tensions within current theories relating to explicatures and implicatures. Authors show that explicatures and implicatures are calculable and not (directly) tied to conventional meaning. Pragmatics has a role to play in dealing with philosophical problems and this volume presents research that defines boundaries and gives a stable picture of pragmatics and philosophy. World renowned academic experts in philosophy and pragmalinguistics ask important theoretical questions and interact in a way that can be easily grasped by those from disciplines other than philosophy, such as anthropology, literary theory and law. A second volume in this series is also available, which covers the perspective of linguists who have been influenced by philosophy.

American Cities and the Politics of Party Conventions

American Cities and the Politics of Party Conventions PDF Author: Eric S. Heberlig
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438466404
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Uncovers the politics involved when a city recruits and implements a presidential convention. Political party conventions have lost much of their original political nature, serving now primarily as elaborate infomercials while ratifying the decisions made by voters in state primaries and caucuses. While this activity hasn’t changed significantly since the 1970s, conventions themselves have changed significantly in terms of how they are recruited, implemented, and paid for. American Cities and the Politics of Party Conventions analyzes how and why cities advance through the site selection process. Just as parties use conventions to communicate their policies, unity, and competence to the electorate, cities use the convention selection process to communicate their merits to political parties, businesses and residents. While hosting such a “mega event” provides some direct economic stimulus for host cities, the major benefit of the convention is the opportunity it provides for branding and signaling status. Combining a case studies approach as well as interviews with party and local officials, Eric S. Heberlig, Suzanne M. Leland, and David Swindell bring party convention scholarship up to date while highlighting the costs and benefits of hosting such events for tourism bureaus, city administrators, elected officials, and the citizens they represent. Eric S. Heberlig is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and coauthor (with Bruce A. Larson) of Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition, and the Financing of Majority Control. Suzanne M. Leland is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and coeditor (with Kurt Thurmaier) of City-County Consolidation: Promises Made, Promises Kept? David Swindell is the Director of the Center for Urban Innovation and Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University.

Meetings and Conventions

Meetings and Conventions PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Congresses and conventions
Languages : en
Pages : 1122

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Methods For Social Analysis In Developing Countries

Methods For Social Analysis In Developing Countries PDF Author: Kurt Finsterbusch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042971405X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This book fills the gap between social science methodology books and the realities of conducting social research under Third World conditions. It focuses on social impact assessment methods and cost effective social analyses for development projects and programs in US and Third World countries.

Proceedings of the Annual Convention

Proceedings of the Annual Convention PDF Author: Virginia Bankers Association
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Banks and banking
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Union Signal and World's White Ribbon

Union Signal and World's White Ribbon PDF Author: Mary Bannister Willard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Alcoholism
Languages : en
Pages : 1646

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Proceedings: Seventeenth Annual Convention of Rotary International

Proceedings: Seventeenth Annual Convention of Rotary International PDF Author:
Publisher: Rotary International
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 818

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Book Description