Ethnic slurs have recently raised interest in philosophy of language. Consider (1) Yao is Chinese and (2) Yao is a chink. A theory of meaning should take into account the fact that sentence (2) has the property of containing a slur, a feature plausibly motivating an utterance of (2) rather than (1), and conveys contempt because it contains that word. According to multipropositionalism, two utterances can have the same official truth conditions and the same truth-value but differ in cognitive significance (...) (Korta and Perry, 2011). I contend that (1) and (2) have the same official content, and say the same thing, but differ in cognitive significance. I argue that slurs have linguistic meaning as type conveying that the designated group (Chinese for example) is despicable because it is that very group. Knowing the use of a slur is knowing the group it targets and that that group is despicable because it is that group. The idea that that group, Chinese for example, is despicable because of being Chinese is conventionally implicated. Specific prejudices slurs convey are not semantically carried, and cannot be identified by using semantic competence only. My view account for slurs in propositional attitudes, and for the fact that ‘Yao is not a chink, he is Chinese’ is not a contradiction. (shrink)

Personal and demonstrative pronouns are notorious for challenging any theory of natural language. Singular pronouns have received much attention from linguists and philosophers alike during the last three decades. Plural pronouns, on the other hand, have been neglected, especially by philosophers. I want to fill this gap and suggest accounts of ‘we,’ the plural ‘you,’ and ‘they.'Intuitively, singular and plural personal pronouns are ‘counterparts.' Any account of personal pronouns should make sense of this intuition. However, the latter is not very (...) sophisticated and, as we move along, it will be reexamined and relativized. As we shall see, plural pronouns are much more than mere counterparts of the familiar singular ones. It is well known that third person singular pronouns have puzzling behaviors, acting as co-referential terms, bound variables, or unbound anaphora. But co-reference, binding, and unbound anaphora are not confined to the usual examples and extend, in a way, to plural pronouns. My discussion of the latter is partly motivated by this particular behavior. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Perry contends that an utterance of ‘It is raining’ must be assigned a location before being truth assessed. The location is famously argued to be an unarticulated constituent of the proposition an utterance of expresses. My paper examines this view from a pluri-propositionalist perspective. The sentence contains an impersonal pronoun, ‘it’ and the impersonal verb ‘to rain. I suggest that the utterance of semantically determines ‘to rain’, which is an event, and that that event is instantiated at a time (...) indicated by the tense at a location It is assumed that all event are located in space and time. (shrink)

Indexicals shatter the view that sentences and, more generally, linguistic terms are context-insensitive items. A sentence containing an indexical expression such as.

Relative gradable adjectives raise serious problems in semantics. First, I explore a few intuitions about relative gradable predicates and clarify some points. Second, I propose a multipropositionalist, Perry-inspired, perspective on relative gradable predicate utterances. Perry's version of multipropositionalism introduces many different propositions or contents, including indexical content, referential content, and designational content, which are carried by the utterance of a single sentence. It also offers a new approach to relative gradable predicates, and suggests an explanation for the way relative predicates (...) work in linguistic communication and for the divergent intuitions about these predicates. My approach focuses on the cognitive significance of relative gradable sentence utterances. (shrink)

“Imported“ is a member of a large family of adjectives, including “enemy“, “domestic“, “local“, “exported“, “foreign“. Call these terms contextuals. Contextuals are prima facie context-sensitive expressions in that the same contextual sentence can have different truth-values, and hence different truth-conditions, from utterance to utterance. I use Perry's multipropositionalist framework to get a new angle on contextuals. I explore the idea that the lexical linguistic meaning of contextual adjectives introduces two conditions to the cognitive significance of an utterance. These conditions contain (...) a variable, y, that does not correspond to any lexical component in the sentence. This is the available tool for letting the speakers' intentions, or what the speakers have in mind, play a semantic role. My view focuses on the complex condition that linguistic meaning sometimes semantically determines. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: Complex demonstratives raise problems in semantics and force a re-examination of basic principles underlying the New Theory of Reference. First, I present these problems and the relevant principles. Then, I explore the most common suggestions, for instance, as those put forward by Braun and Dever. Finally, I introduce my own view. The latter is a non-ad hoc extension of the Reflexive-Referential analysis of context-sensitive terms as discussed by Perry. It accounts for familiar problems, including those raised by the fact (...) that sometimes the object referred to does not satisfy the nominal, nor preserve the relevant principles.RÉSUMÉ: Les demonstratifs complexes soulèvent des problèmes sémantiques majeurs qui incitent à l’examen de principes sous-jacents à la nouvelle théorie de la référence. Je présente ces problèmes de même que les principes qu’ils semblent remettre en question, expose les deux principales approches des démonstratifs (celIes défendue par Braun et par Dever) et, finalement, suggère une théorie inspirée destravaux de John Perry sur les expressions référentielles sensibles aux contextes d’énonciation. Ma façon d’aborder les démonstratifs complexes est un prolongement de l’approche réflexive référentielle et fait appel à de multiples propositions exprimées par des énonciations. (shrink)

Je présente le principe de compositionnalité et deux arguments classiques en sa faveur — un argument de Davidson et un autre attribuable aux sémanticiens vériconditionnalistes. Je soutiens ensuite que deux catégories d’expressions — les pronoms pluriels et les contextuels — constituent des contre-exemples pour l’argument vériconditionnaliste, mais pas pour l’argument de Davidson. La raison en est que les premiers ont de fortes exigences quant aux entités constituant la valeur sémantique des expressions linguistiques faisant partie du lexique d’une langue, alors que (...) l’argument de Davidson n’en a pratiquement aucune. Je propose finalement la notion de carte de contenu afin de prendre en compte l’idée que les énonciations n’ont pas toutes des conditions de vérité sémantiquement définies, mais que toutes déterminent tout de même sémantiquement, en tout ou en partie, une entité dotée de conditions de vérité.I introduce the Principle of Compositionality and two arguments usually invoked to motivate it. The first one comes from Davidson and the second one from truth conditional semanticists. I suggest that two types of terms — plural pronouns and contextuals — prove that the latter is flawed. However, Davidson’s argument remains plausible. The reason is that the truth conditional argument has very strong requirements with respect to the semantic value of lexical items, while Davidson’s is not very demanding. I finally offer the notion of a content map to fit the idea that even if all utterances do not have semantically defined truth conditions, they nonetheless determine, completely or in part, a truth valuable entity. (shrink)

Dans le paradigme russellien, les termes dénotants ou termes quantifiés comme «plusieurs hommes», «quelques hommes», «tous les hommes», sont analysés à l'aide de quantificateurs, de variables, de prédicats et de connecteurs logiques à l'intérieur de phrases complètes exprimant des propositions générales. Les descriptions définies comme les descriptions indéfinies y sont aussi traitées comme des termes quantifiés.

Fictional names have specific, cognitively relevant features, putting them in a category apart from the category of ordinary names. I argue that we should focus on the name or name form itself and refrain from looking for an assignment procedure and an assigned referent. I also argue that we should reject the idea that sentences containing fictional names express singular propositions. These suggestions have important consequences for the intuition that ‘Sherlock Holmes exists’ is either true or false, and they put (...) our intuitions concerning fictional names into perspective. If Millianism is the view that names only have a referent only as their semantic value, then my proposal on fictional names is not Millian in nature. (shrink)

According to some philosophers, sentences like (1) “It is raining” and (2) “John is ready” are context sensitive sentences even if they do not contain indexicals or demonstratives. That view initiated a context sensitivity frenzy. Cappelen and Lepore (2005) summarize the frenzy by the slogan “Every sentence is context sensitive” (Insensitive Semantics, p. 6, note 5). They suggest a view they call Minimalism according to which the truth conditions of utterances of sentences like (1)/(2) are exactly what Convention T gives (...) you. I will distinguish different propositions, and refocus semantics on sentences. As distinct from what the protagonists in the ongoing debate think, I argue that the content or truth conditions of utterances of both context sensitive sentences and sentences like (1)/(2) are not interesting from a semantic point of view, and that the problem sentences like (1)/(2) raises is not about context sensitivity or context insensitivity of sentences, but relevance of the content of utterances. (shrink)

Both the semantics of fictional discourse and the semantics of indexicality are canonical topics in the philosophy of language, on which there exists well-known significant literature. However, the same cannot be said for the terrain where they overlap. That is, the distinctive issues raised by fictive uses of indexicals and demonstratives have not been extensively studied per se. The aim of the present essay is to shed some light on this terrain, and to advance our understanding of some of these (...) issues. As it happens, accounting for indexicals in fiction requires the use of innovative new tools. In particular, the standard, familiar taxonomy of types / tokens / utterances is not sufficient to account for the complex cognitive significance and truth-conditions, unique to these kinds of case. For instance: it is widely recognized that, with indexicals generally, semantic properties attach to utterances, not to types or to tokens. But in fiction there are no utterances (in the relevant sense). An innovative notion is required, which I call an “indexed token”. This account of indexicals in fiction, based on the notion of an indexed token, is developed within a Perry (2012)-inspired pluri-propositionalist framework. As such, the present essay constitutes an original application of that framework, extending its already impressive reach. (shrink)

I argue that we are wrong in thinking that all assertive sentences reflect reality. My argument is grounded on the semantics of comparative sentences. I also contend that utterances are designed to fit reality. My view relies on the idea that the notion of truth fit for sentences – a metalinguistic notion – is not metaphysical in nature, while a notion of truth capturing our intuitions concerning utterances of comparative sentences is. In that respect, intuitions concerning utterances of compa-rative sentences (...) have a metaphysical aspect.Argumento que estamos equivocados ao pensar que toda sentença assertiva reflete a realidade. Meu argumento está fundamentado na semântica de sentenças comparativas. Também defendo que proferimentos são feitos para se encaixar na realidade. Minha visão está baseada na idéia de que a noção de verdade adequada para sentenças – uma noção metalingüística – não é de natureza metafísica, enquanto que uma noção de verdade que capture nossas intuições sobre proferimentos de sentenças comparativas é desta natureza. Neste aspecto, intuições sobre proferimentos de sentenças comparativas têm um aspecto metafísico. (shrink)

Les quatre thèses suivantes ont pour résultat qu'il devient impossible de justifier sa croyance en l'existence d'états mentaux hors les siens propres : on a un accès direct à ses propres états mentaux ; on n'a qu'un accès indirect aux états mentaux d'autrui ; le matérialisme est indéfendable et toute prétention à la connaissance doit respecter des contraintes empiristes. L'argument par analogie, une tactique classique pour justifier cette croyance, est insoutenable, en particulier lorsqu'il se base sur le comportement linguistique. Un (...) autre argument de Putnam nous engage sur un terrain où, à la limite, il n'est plus nécessaire de parler des états mentaux d'autrui. Il faut donc rethématiser certains problèmes en théorie de la connaissance.The impossibility of justifying our commonsense belief that there are other minds follows from four theses: we have direct access to our own mental states ; we have only an indirect access to other's mental states ; materialism is untenable and our knowledge claims must be made in accordance with empiricist requirements. The well-known argument from analogy cannot be supported, especially when based on the analogy with linguistic behavior. Another argument, used by Putnam, runs on an epistemic ground. But here, the ultimate consequence is that it is useless to talk about other's mental states, a very unwelcomed conclusion. We are thus led to a reexamination of certain areas of the philosophy of knowledge, especially those connected with our knowledge of our own mental states. (shrink)

Traditionnellement, une théorie de la signification doit rendre compte à la fois des conditions de vérité des phrases des langues naturelles et des relations évidentes qu'entretiennent le langage et la pensée. À ce titre, le paradigme frégéen est un modele du genre. Une phrase y est dite exprimer une pensée, laquelle lui sert de valeur cognitive et a une valeur de vérité. Différentes occurrences d'une même phrase expriment une même pensée. Si cette phrase a une occurrence dans un contexte d'attitude (...) propositionnelle, elle réfère à la pensée qu'elle exprimerait en contexte ordinaire. La théorie de la référence directe a fait voler en éclats cette image aussi simple que claire de la relation entre langage et pensée. C'est sur cet arrière-plan que prend place le livre de François Récanati, Direct Reference. Une bonne partie des efforts de l'auteur est en effet consacrée à rétablir des liens aujourd'hui étiolés. (shrink)

RÉSUMÉ L’identité intentionnelle soulève des énigmes quant au comportement linguistique de certains pronoms anaphoriquement liés à des quantificateurs restreints, mais qui ne peuvent être considérés comme des variables liées par ces quantificateurs. J’examine ce problème et suggère une solution, qui est une généralisation de la notion de pronom de texte, conçue afin d’analyser certains pronoms qui ont un comportement linguistique similaire. ABSTRACT Intentional identity raises problems with respect to the linguistic behavior of anaphoric pronouns linked to restricted quantifiers but that (...) cannot be variables bound by these quantifiers. I examine this issue and suggest a solution based on the notion of a text pronoun, introduced to deal with pronouns exhibiting a similar linguistic behavior. (shrink)

Negative properties, like not flying, are controversial. I oppose Chateaubriand’s view on these properties and offer semantic arguments against their inclusion in ontology. I distinguish predicate negation and sentential negation, and examine the syntactic and semantic behaviour of predicate negation. I contend that predicate negation is identical with sentential negation. If it is not, then we lose a lot of intuitive inferences found in natural languages and make no clear metaphysical gain. Other arguments based on Ockham’s razor are offered.

Humpty-Dumpty affirmait que les mots signifiaient exactement ce qu'il lui plaisait qu'ils signifient, «ni plus, ni moins». Il a parfois des défenseurs chez les chercheurs qui se sont penchés sur le problème de la non-littéralité. On peut cependant affirmer qu'ur locuteur, s'il utilise non littéralement des expressions qui ont ure signification conventionnelle, ne peut en changer à volonté la signification pour leur faire signifier exactement ce qu'il a l'intention de signifier. Par exemple, quelqu'un qui fait une métaphore ne peut changer (...) la signification des expressions qu'il utilise. C'est la thèse que je défendrai au cours des prochaines pages. On verra aussi quelles intentions devrait avoir un locuteur qui signifierait non littéralement quelque chose. (shrink)

Negative properties, like not flying, are controversial. I introduce negative properties, and offer semantic arguments against the inclusion of such properties in ontology. I distinguish predicate negation and sentential negation, and examine the syntactic and semantic behaviour of predicate negation. I contend that predicate negation is identical with sentential negation. If it is not, then we lose a lot of intuitive inferences found in natural languages and make no clear metaphysical gain. Other arguments based on Ockham’s razor are offered. Finally, (...) I address the problem raised by words like “immortal”. These words apparently express negative properties. My views have interesting consequences on the ontological scope of these words. (shrink)