Words and Thoughts

Words and Thoughts
Author: Robert Stainton
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2006
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0199250383

It is a near truism of philosophy of language that sentences are prior to words---that they are the only things that fundamentally have meaning. Robert's Stainton's study interrogates this idea, drawing on a wide body of evidence to argue that speakers can and do use mere words, not sentences, to communicate complex thoughts.

Words Underway

Words Underway
Author: Carolyn Culbertson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Language and languages
ISBN: 9781786608055

This book offers the first full account of Continental contributions to the philosophy of language. It includes coverage of a range of key figures including Heidegger, Gadamer, Blanchot and Kristeva and is designed to engage advanced students with a range of literary references and case studies.

When Words Are Called For

When Words Are Called For
Author: Avner Baz
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2012-03-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0674068483

A new form of philosophizing known as ordinary language philosophy took root in England after the Second World War, promising a fresh start and a way out of long-standing dead-end philosophical debates. Pioneered by Wittgenstein, Austin, and others, OLP is now widely rumored, within mainstream analytic philosophy, to have been seriously discredited, and consequently its perspective is ignored. Avner Baz begs to differ. In When Words Are Called For, he shows how the prevailing arguments against OLP collapse under close scrutiny. All of them, he claims, presuppose one version or another of the very conception of word-meaning that OLP calls into question and takes to be responsible for many traditional philosophical difficulties. Worse, analytic philosophy itself has suffered as a result of its failure to take OLP’s perspective seriously. Baz blames a neglect of OLP’s insights for seemingly irresolvable disputes over the methodological relevance of “intuitions” in philosophy and for misunderstandings between contextualists and anti-contextualists (or “invariantists”) in epistemology. Baz goes on to explore the deep affinities between Kant’s work and OLP and suggests ways that OLP could be applied to other philosophically troublesome concepts. When Words Are Called For defends OLP not as a doctrine but as a form of practice that might provide a viable alternative to work currently carried out within mainstream analytic philosophy. Accordingly, Baz does not merely argue for OLP but, all the more convincingly, practices it in this eye-opening book.

An Introductory Course to Philosophy of Language

An Introductory Course to Philosophy of Language
Author: Ufuk Özen Baykent
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2016-08-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1443898201

Language is what we all share and is our common concern. What is the nature of language? How is language related to the world? How is communication possible via language? What is the impact of language on our reasoning and thinking? Many people are unaware that misunderstandings and conflicts during communication occur as a result of the way we use language. This book introduces the central issues in the history of philosophical investigations about the concept of language. Topics are structured with reference to the world’s foremost philosophers of language. The book will encourage the reader to explore the depths of the concept of language and will raise an awareness of this distinctive human capacity.

Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language

Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language
Author: Umberto Eco
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1986-07-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780253203984

"Eco wittily and enchantingly develops themes often touched on in his previous works, but he delves deeper into their complex nature . . . this collection can be read with pleasure by those unversed in semiotic theory." —Times Literary Supplement

Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of Language
Author: Susana Nuccetelli
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2008
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780742559776

This collection of classic and contemporary essays in philosophy of language offers a concise introduction to the field for students in graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses. It contains some of the most important basic sources in philosophy of language, including a number of classic essays by philosophers such as Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Kripke, Grice, Davidson, Strawson, Austin, and Putnam, as well as more recent contributions by scholars including John McDowell, Stephen Neale, Ruth Millikan, Stephen Schiffer, Paul Horwich, and Anthony Brueckner, among others, who are on the leading edge of innovation in this increasingly influential area of philosophy. The result is a lively mix of readings, together with the editors' discussions of the material, which provides a rigorous introduction to the subject.

Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of Language
Author: William G. Lycan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134696043

Philosophy of Language introduces the student to the main issues and theories in twentieth-century philosophy of language. Topics are structured in three parts in the book. Part I, Reference and Referring Expressions, includes topics such as Russell's Theory of Desciptions, Donnellan's distinction, problems of anaphora, the description theory of proper names, Searle's cluster theory, and the causal-historical theory. Part II, Theories of Meaning, surveys the competing theories of linguistic meaning and compares their various advantages and liabilities. Part III, Pragmatics and Speech Acts, introduces the basic concepts of linguistic pragmatics, includes a detailed discussion of the problem of indirect force and surveys approaches to metaphor. Unique features of the text: * chapter overviews and summaries * clear supportive examples * study questions * annotated further reading * glossary.

The Magic Prism

The Magic Prism
Author: Howard Wettstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2004-04-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780198036425

The late 20th century saw great movement in the philosophy of language, often critical of the fathers of the subject--Gottlieb Frege and Bertrand Russell--but sometimes supportive of (or even defensive about) the work of the fathers. Howard Wettstein's sympathies lie with the critics. But he says that they have often misconceived their critical project, treating it in ways that are technically focused and that miss the deeper implications of their revolutionary challenge. Wettstein argues that Wittgenstein--a figure with whom the critics of Frege and Russell are typically unsympathetic--laid the foundation for much of what is really revolutionary in this late 20th century movement. The subject itself should be of great interest, since philosophy of language has functioned as a kind of foundation for much of 20th century philosophy. But in fact it remains a subject for specialists, since the ideas are difficult and the mode of presentation is often fairly technical. In this book, Wettstein brings the non-specialist into the conversation (especially in early chapters); he also reconceives the debate in a way that avoids technical formulation. The Magic Prism is intended for professional philosophers, graduate students, and upper division undergraduates.

Skepticism and Language in Early Modern Philosophy

Skepticism and Language in Early Modern Philosophy
Author: Danilo Marcondes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2020-12-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1793614733

Danilo Marcondes argues that, contrary to a traditional view maintaining that language is not given any central role in early modern philosophy, an “early linguistic turn” in the seventeenth century opened a place for the philosophy of language as part of the philosophical system then under construction. Skepticism and Language in Early Modern Philosophy: The Early Linguistic Turn also claims that the revival of ancient skepticism at the modern age contributed decisively towards this “linguistic turn” insofar as it attacked the “powers of the intellect” in representing reality and making knowledge possible. Marcondes also argues that the concept of language itself becomes crucial to this investigation since the various understandings that developed during this period led to the central role that would be given to the philosophy of language in contemporary philosophy.

Readings in the Philosophy of Language

Readings in the Philosophy of Language
Author: Peter Ludlow
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 1108
Release: 1997
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780262621144

A central theme of this collection is that the philosophy of language, at least a core portion of it, has matured to the point where it is now being spun off into linguistic theory.