The Meaning of Generics

Philosophy Compass 12 (8):e12431 (2017)
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Abstract

This article discusses recent theories of the meaning of generics. The discussion is centred on how the theories differ in their approach to addressing the primary difficulty in providing a theory of generic meaning: The notoriously complex ways in which the truth conditions of generics seem to vary. In addition, the article summarizes considerations for and against each theory.

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Rachel Katharine Sterken
University of Hong Kong

Citations of this work

The Radical Account of Bare Plural Generics.Anthony Nguyen - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (5):1303-1331.
Weak generics.Mahrad Almotahari - 2022 - Analysis 82 (3):405-409.
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Stereotyping and Generics.Anne Bosse - 2022 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy:1-17.

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References found in this work

Generics: Cognition and acquisition.Sarah-Jane Leslie - 2008 - Philosophical Review 117 (1):1-47.
Genericity: An Introduction.Manfred Krifka, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Gregory Carlson, Alice ter Meulen, Gennaro Chierchia & Godehard Link - 1995 - In Greg N. Carlson & Francis Jeffry Pelletier (eds.), The Generic Book. University of Chicago Press. pp. 1--124.
Generics in Context.Rachel Sterken - 2015 - Philosophers' Imprint 15.
Simple Generics.David Liebesman - 2011 - Noûs 45 (3):409-442.
Generics and the structure of the mind.Sarah-Jane Leslie - 2007 - Philosophical Perspectives 21 (1):375–403.

View all 21 references / Add more references