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1、MIND,LANGUAGEANDREALITYphilosopherssogroupedsimplydonotagreeonsufficientlymanydoctrinesorideasforoneattacktodemolishallofthem(i;theycanbe8demolishedatall).WithoutcommittingmyselftotherightnessorIssemanticspossible?*twrongnessofeitherWittgensteinorAustin,IhopethatIhavesuc-ceededinsuggest
2、ingthatthesephilosophershavefarmoreintellectualandpersonalpowerthanonecouldevergatherfromsuchadescriptionastheoneAyergives.Inthelastdecadeenormousprogressseemstohavebeenmadeinthesyntactictheoryofnaturallanguages,largelyasaresultoftheworkoflinguistsinfluencedbyNoamChomskyandZelligHarris.
3、Comparableprogressseemsnottohavebeenmadeinthesemantictheoryofnaturallanguages,andperhapsitistimetoaskwhythisshouldbethecase.Whyisthetheoryofmeaningsohard?ThemeaningofcommonnounsTogetsomeideaofthedifficulties,letuslookatsomeoftheproblemsthatcomeupinconnectionwithgeneralnames.Generalnames
4、areofmanykinds.Some,likebachelor,admitofanexplicitdefinitionstraightoff('manwhohasneverbeenmarried');buttheoverwhelmingmajoritydonot.Somearederivedbytransformationsfromverbalforms,e.g.hunter=onewhohunts.Animportantclass,philosophicallyaswellaslinguistically,istheclassofgeneralnamesassoc
5、iatedwithnaturalkinds-thatis,withclassesofthingsthatweregardasofexplanatoryimportance;classeswhosenormaldistinguishingcharacteristicsare'heldtogether'orevenexplainedbydeep-lyingmechanisms.Gold,lemon,tiger,acid,areexamplesofsuchnouns.Iwanttobeginthispaperbysuggestingthat(I)traditionalthe
6、oriesofmeaningradicallyfalsifythepropertiesofsuchwords;(2)logicianslikeCarnapdolittlemorethanformalizethesetraditionaltheories,inadequaciesandall;(3)suchsemantictheoriesasthatproducedbyJerroldKatzandhisco-workerslikewiseshareallthedefectsofthetraditionaltheory.InAustin'shappyphrase,what
7、wehavebeengivenbyphilosophers,logicians,and'semantictheorists'alike,isa'myth-eatendescription'.ReprintedfromH.KieferandM.Munitz(eds.)Languages,BeliefandMetaphysics,VolumeIofContemporaryPhilosophicThought:TheInternationalPhilosophyYearConferencesatBrockportbypermissionoftheStabU
