Seeing and Hearing Meanings. A Non-Inferential Approach to Utterance Comprehension

In Anders Nes & Timothy Chan (eds.), Inference and Consciousness. Routledge. pp. 99-124 (2020)
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Abstract

In this paper I provide empirical and theoretical considerations in favor of a non-inferential view of speech comprehension. On the view defended, we typically comprehend speech by perceiving or grasping apparently conveyed meanings directly rather than by inferring them from, say, linguistic principles and perceived phonemes. “Speech” is here used in the broad sense to refer not only to verbal expression, but also written messages, including Braille, and conventional signs and symbols, like emojis, a stop sign or a swastika. Along the way I define what I mean by ‘inference’ and provide an account of what it means to say that we perceive apparently conveyed meanings.

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Berit Brogaard
University of Miami

Citations of this work

Do we hear meanings? – between perception and cognition.Anna Drożdżowicz - 2019 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 66 (2):196-228.
Encapsulation, inference and utterance interpretation.Nicholas Allott - forthcoming - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.
The empirical status of semantic perceptualism.Fabrizio Calzavarini - 2022 - Mind and Language 38 (4):1000-1020.

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References found in this work

The representational character of experience.David J. Chalmers - 2004 - In Brian Leiter (ed.), The Future for Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 153--181.
The Modularity of Mind.Robert Cummins & Jerry Fodor - 1983 - Philosophical Review 94 (1):101.
Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions.J. R. Stroop - 1935 - Journal of Experimental Psychology 18 (6):643.
Logic and Conversation.H. P. Grice - 1975 - In Donald Davidson & Gilbert Harman (eds.), The Logic of Grammar. Encino, CA: pp. 64-75.

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