Reference and Representation in Thought and Language

by de Ponte, Maria; Korta, Kepa

• ISBN13: 9780191782626
• ISBN10: 0191782629
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2017-08-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume offers novel views on the precise relation between reference to an object by means of a linguistic expression and our mental representation of that object, long a source of debate in the philosophy of language, linguistics, and cognitive science. Chapters in this volume deal with our devices for singular reference and singular representation, with most focusing on linguistic expressions that are used to refer to particular objects, persons, or places. These expressions include proper names such as Mary and John; indexicals such as I and tomorrow; demonstrative pronouns such as this and that; and some definite and indefinite descriptions such as The Queen of England or a medical doctor. Other chapters examine the ways we represent objects in thought, particularly the first-person perspective and the self, and one explores a notion common to reference and representation: salience. The volume includes the latest views on these complex topics from some of the most prominent authors in the field and will be of interest to anyone working on issues of reference and representation in thought and language.

Author Biography

Maria de Ponte is an assistant professor at the University of Seville. She has previously held positions at the University of the Basque Country and at Brown University. She works on the philosophy of language, logic, and time, and her work has been published in journals such as Logique et Analyse, Journal of Pragmatics, and Research and Language, as well as in a number of edited volumes.

Kepa Korta is Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country and a researcher at the Institute for Logic, Cognition, Language and Information (ILCLI). He is the author, with John Perry, of the book Critical Pragmatics: An Inquiry into Reference and Communication (2011) and his work has appeared in Mind and Language, Synthese, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and various edited collections.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Maria de Ponte and Kepa Korta
2. Names, predicates, and the object-property distinction, Genoveva Marti
3. Proper names: Gender, context sensitivity, and conversational implicatures, Eros Corazza
4. Indexicals and undexicals, John Perry
5. Reference, intention, and context: Do demonstratives really refer?, Kent Bach
6. Semantic complexity, Maite Ezcurdia
7. Donnellan's misdescriptions and loose talk, Carlo Penco
8. 'Pre'-semantic pragmatic enrichment: the case of long-distance reflexivization, Yan Huang
9. The interplay of recipient design and salience in shaping speaker's utterance, Istvan Kecskes
10. New thoughts about old facts: On Prior's root canal, Maria de Ponte and Kepa Korta
11. Cognitive dynamics: A new look at an old problem, Francois Recanati
12. The property theory and de se attitudes, Wayne A. Davis
13. Selfhood as self-representation, Kenneth A. Taylor