Philosophy of language

Asa Kasher
Table of contents

Philosophical studies of natural language serve two purposes: (a) They enhance our understanding of the role played by language within the framework of major facets of human life, such as thought, knowledge or scientific explanation, and (b) they enhance our understanding of language itself. Pragmatics, in some sense of the term, has been involved in the pursuit of each of these purposes. A particularly illuminating example of how pragmatics, in a sense, appears in a philosophical study of language of type (a) is Bas van Fraassen’s philosophical theory of scientific explanation (van Fraassen 1980). Van Fraassen’s starting point is the threefold division of properties and relations into syntactic, semantic and pragmatic, as introduced by Charles Morris and used in Morris (1955). Applying this division to theories in science, an interesting distinction emerges between syntactic aspects of a theory, such as the property of consistency, semantic aspects thereof, such as empirical adequacy and verisimilitude, and presently most interestingly, its pragmatic aspects, such as context-dependency. Van Fraassen’s view is that “the language of theory appraisal, and specifically the term ‘explains’ is radically context-dependent” (1980: 91). On van Fraassen’s view, an explanation is an answer to a ‘why?’-question about certain facts, as compared to certain contextually determined alternatives that are not the case: ‘why does this material burn yellow, rather than …?’. Moreover, an explanation involves not only certain facts and certain contrastive alternatives, but also a contextually determined respect in which an answer is sought to the ‘why?’-question. In one respect, the question ‘why does the blood circulate through the body?’ is related to causal answers in terms of the heart pumping the blood through the arteries, while in another respect, the question is related to functional answers in terms of bringing oxygen to every part of the body tissue.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Almog, J., J. Perry & H. Wettstein
(eds.) 1989Themes from Kaplan. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Austin, J. L.
1962How to do things with words. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
1970[1950] ‘Intelligent behaviour’, a critical review of Gilbert Ryle’s ‘The concept of mind’. In O. P. Wood & G. Pitcher (eds.) Ryle: 45–51. Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bach, K. & R. M. Harnish
1979Linguistic communication and speech acts. MIT Press. Google Scholar
Baker, G. P. & P. M. S. Hacker
1980Wittgenstein, understanding and meaning. Blackwell. Google Scholar
1985Wittgenstein, rules, grammar and necessity. Blackwell. Google Scholar
Bar-Hillel, Y.
1954Indexical expressions. Mind 63: 359–379. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bromberger, S. & M. Halle
1991Why phonology is different. In A. Kasher (ed.): 56–77. Google Scholar
Burge, T.
1992Philosophy of language and mind, 1950–1990. Philosophical Review 101: 3–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carnap, R.
1932Ueberwindung der Metaphysik durch logische Analyse der Sprache. Erkenntnis 2(4): 219–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N.
1975Reflections on language. Pantheon Books. Google Scholar
1986Knowledge of language. Praeger. Google Scholar
Davidson, D.
1978What metaphors mean. Critical Inquiry 5: 31–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1979Moods and performances. In A. Margalit (ed.): 9–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1984. Inquiries into truth and interpretation. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
1986A nice derangement of epitaphs. InLePore (ed.): 433–446.  MetBibGoogle Scholar
Davis, S.
1979Speech acts, performance and competence. Journal of Pragmatics 3: 497–505. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Donnellan, K.
1966Reference and definite descriptions. Philosophical Review 65: 281–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dowty, D. R., R. E. Wall & S. Peters
1981Introduction to Montague semantics. Reidel. Google Scholar
Dummett, M.
1989Language and communication. In A. George (ed.) Reflections on Chomsky: 192–212. Blackwell. Google Scholar
1991The logical basis of metaphysics. Duckworth. Google Scholar
Van Fraassen, B. C.
1980The scientific image. Clarendon Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grice, H. P.
1989Studies in the way of words. Harvard University Press. Google Scholar
Hilpinen, R.
(ed.) 1971Deontic logic. Reidel. Google Scholar
Hintikka, J.
1986Logic of conversation as a logic of dialogue. In R. E. Grandy & R. Warner (eds.) Philosophical grounds of rationality: 259–276. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Kaplan, D.
1979On the logic of demonstratives. In P. A. French, T. E. Uehling & H. K. Wettstein (eds.) Contemporary perspectives in the philosophy of language: 401–412. University of Minnesota Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1989aDemonstratives. In J. Almog, J. Perry & H. Wettstein (eds.): 481–563. Google Scholar
1989bAfterthoughts. In J. Almog, J. Perry & H. Wettstein (eds.): 565–614. Google Scholar
Kasher, A.
1976Conversational maxims and rationality. In A. Kasher (ed.) Language in focus: 197–216. Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1979What is a theory of use? In A. Margalit (ed.): 37–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991Pragmatics and Chomsky’s research program. In A. Kasher (ed.): 122–149. Google Scholar
(ed.) 1991The Chomskyan turn. Blackwell. Google Scholar
Kripke, S.
1977Speaker’s reference and semantic reference. Midwest Studies in Philosophy 2: 255–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lappin, S.
1991Concepts of logical form in linguistics and philosophy. In A. Kasher (ed.): 300–333. Google Scholar
Lepore, E.
(ed.) 1986Truth and interpretation. Blackwell. Google Scholar
Margalit, A.
(ed.) 1979Meaning and use. Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, R. M.
1959Towards a systematic pragmatics. North-Holland. Google Scholar
Morris, C.
1946Signs, language and behavior. Prentice Hall. . DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1955Foundations of the theory of signs. In O. Neurath, R. Carnap & C. Morris (eds.) Foundations of the unity of science, vol. 1: 63–137. University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar
Pateman, T.
1987Language in mind and language in society. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
Récanati, F.
1993Direct reference. Blackwell. Google Scholar
Searle, J. R.
1969Speech acts. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soams, S.
1982How presuppositions are inherited. Linguistic Inquiry 13: 483–545. Google Scholar
Stalnaker, R. C.
1972Pragmatics. In G. Harman & D. Davidson (eds.) Semantics of natural language: 380–397. Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Strawson, P. F.
1952Introduction to logical theory. Methuen. Google Scholar
Vanderveken, D.
1990/1991Meaning and speech acts, 2 vols. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Wettstein, H.
1984How to bridge the gap between meaning and reference. Synthese 58: 63–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wittgenstein, L.
1953Philosophical investigations. Blackwell. Google Scholar