Devitt - Meaning & Use

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1、PhilosophyandPhenomenologicalResearchVol.LXV,No.1,July2002MeaningandUseMICHAELDEVITTTheGraduateCenter,CityUniversityofNewYorkPartIarguesthattheusetheoryinHorwich’sMeaningdoesnotgivesufficientattentiontotherelationbetweenlanguageandrhoughr.Adevelopmentofthetheoryisproposedthat

2、givesexplanatoryprioritytothemental.ThepaperalsourgesthatHorwich’sidenti-ficationofawordsmeaningbyitsroleinexplainingthecauseofsentencesshouldbebroadenedtoincludeitsroleinexplainingthelinguisticandnonlinguisticbehaviorthatsentencescause.PartI1arguesthatHorwichgreatlyoverstate

3、sthecaseforhisusetheory;thattheargumentsfromignoranceanderroragainstdescriptiontheoriesofreferencecanbeadaptedagainsttheusetheory;andthatatemptingdevelopmentoftheusetheorywouldriskboththecollapseofthetheoryintotruthreferentialismandthedifficultiesthathaveplaguedtruthreferenti

4、alism.finally,aconsiderationofourordi-narythoughtascriptionsprovidesevidenceagainstanyusetheory.I.IntroductionPaulHorwich’sMeaning(1998b)isanimportantandtimelycontributiontothedebateatthefoundationsofsemantics,adebateaboutwhatsortofprop-ertyameaningis.Probablythemostpopularvi

5、ewofmeaninghasbeenatruth-referentialoneaccordingtowhichthemeaningofasentenceisexplainedintermsofitstruthconditionsandthemeaningofawordisexplainedintermsofitsrefer-entialproperties.Togivetruthandreferencetheseexplanatoryrolesistosupposethattheyaresubstantialandsignificantprope

6、rties.Thustruthisusuallythoughttoconsistinsomecorrespondenceinnaturebetweenabelieforstatementandtheworld.Inrecenttimes,afewphilosophershaverejectedthistraditionandurgeddeflationarytheoriesoftruthandreference.Horwichhastakentheleadwithhisinfluentialearlierbook,Truth(1998a).Ont

7、hedeflationaryview,crudely,truthisn’tanything.’Inparticularitisn’tanythingthatcouldplaytheexplanatoryrolerequiredofitinatruth-referentialsemantics.Ifthisisright,thenweneedsomeotheraccountofmeaning(unlessweabandonmeaningaltogether).HorwichprovidesasketchofsuchanaccountinMeanin

8、g.InspiredbyWittgenstein,heprovidesa“use’Althoughdeflationistviewsof