Knowledge-Wh
Edited by T. Parent (Nazarbayev University)
About this topic
Summary | "Knowing-Wh" is intended to cover knowing who(m), knowing what, knowing which, knowing when, knowing why, etc. (Standardly, knowing how is included, but this has its own category on PhilPapers.) Sometimes, "knowing whether" is counted as well; [knowing + DP] and [knowing + INF] are also closely related. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in knowing-wh, given the recent "intellectualism" debate on knowing how. An analogous yet broader "intellectualism" debate is occurring with knowing-wh, and a related discussion on whether a unified account of knowing-wh is even possible. In addition, other interesting issues arise concerning knowing-wh, especially on the context-sensitivity of knowing-wh ascriptions. |
Key works | The work in formal semantics on "knowing-wh" starts with Hamblin 1958. But the early works regularly cited are Karttunen 1977 and Groenendijk & Stokhof 1982. These are good examples of what Schaffer 2007 calls "orthodox reductionism" about knowing-wh, though Schaffer provides an important attack on such views. The first serious attempt to accomodate the context-sensitivity of knowing-wh was Boër & Lycan 1975 and the book-length version Boër & Lycan 1986. Braun 2006 has recently argued, however, that the context-sensitivity should be accommodated by Gricean pragmatics, rather than by Boer and Lycan's semantic parameter. But see DeRose 2009, ch. 2 appendix, for a rejoinder. Finally, knowing-wh is standardly given an "intellectualist" account, akin to the view of knowing how in Stanley & Willlamson 2001. Ginzburg 1995 and Ginzburg 1995 attacks this view of knowing-wh, but Stanley 2011 in his chapter 2 has offered an important reply to Ginzburg. For an alternative "intellectualist" account that accomodates even more linguistic phenomena, see Brogaard 2011. |
Introductions | Parent 2014 gives an overview of three current debates on knowing-wh. Higginbotham 1996 provides good coverage of some of the background issues and related matters. |
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Siblings:See also:
- Knowledge How (328)
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David Bourget (Western Ontario) David Chalmers (ANU, NYU) Area Editors: David Bourget Gwen Bradford Berit Brogaard Margaret Cameron David Chalmers James Chase Rafael De Clercq Ezio Di Nucci Esa Diaz-Leon Barry Hallen Hans Halvorson Jonathan Ichikawa Michelle Kosch Øystein Linnebo JeeLoo Liu Paul Livingston Brandon Look Manolo Martínez Matthew McGrath Michiru Nagatsu Susana Nuccetelli Giuseppe Primiero Jack Alan Reynolds Darrell P. Rowbottom Aleksandra Samonek Constantine Sandis Howard Sankey Jonathan Schaffer Thomas Senor Robin Smith Daniel Star Jussi Suikkanen Aness Kim Webster Other editors Contact us Learn more about PhilPapers |