David Pears
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199247707
- eISBN:
- 9780191714481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199247707.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter describes the emergence of the Picture Theory in the early phase of Wittgenstein's philosophy. The general idea developed in the theory is that a verbal description of a scene is like ...
More
This chapter describes the emergence of the Picture Theory in the early phase of Wittgenstein's philosophy. The general idea developed in the theory is that a verbal description of a scene is like the surface of a pointillist painting: each dot stands for a particular point in space and the colour of the dot conveys a message about that point, and thus the whole painting is a complicated report of the actual scene. It is plausible that the Picture Theory was outflanked by other developments in Wittgenstein's philosophy and left to capitulate without any direct assault. If this is what happened, it is not too difficult to identify the new developments that produced this result. One is his realization that isolated ostensive definitions are never enough to fix the meanings of words; and the other is his rejection of the Realist explanation of the regular use of words.Less
This chapter describes the emergence of the Picture Theory in the early phase of Wittgenstein's philosophy. The general idea developed in the theory is that a verbal description of a scene is like the surface of a pointillist painting: each dot stands for a particular point in space and the colour of the dot conveys a message about that point, and thus the whole painting is a complicated report of the actual scene. It is plausible that the Picture Theory was outflanked by other developments in Wittgenstein's philosophy and left to capitulate without any direct assault. If this is what happened, it is not too difficult to identify the new developments that produced this result. One is his realization that isolated ostensive definitions are never enough to fix the meanings of words; and the other is his rejection of the Realist explanation of the regular use of words.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199259748
- eISBN:
- 9780191597657
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259747.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Implicit in much contemporary philosophy is a Picture Theory of language according to which we can ‘read off’ features of the world from features of our ways of talking about the world. Predicates ...
More
Implicit in much contemporary philosophy is a Picture Theory of language according to which we can ‘read off’ features of the world from features of our ways of talking about the world. Predicates applying truthfully to objects, for instance, are taken to name properties of those objects possessed by every object to which the predicates apply. Such a principle might be thought to follow from a more general ‘truth‐making’ requirement (truths require truth‐makers) together with the idea that truth‐makers entail truths. I argue that truth‐making is not entailment and that the Picture Theory should be jettisoned and replaced by an attitude of ontological seriousness. Freed of constraints imposed by the Picture Theory, we are in a position to see our way through metaphysical difficulties associated with contemporary philosophy of mind. Following Locke (and C. B. Martin), I endorse a conception of properties as modes (or tropes): ways particular objects are. Modes are simultaneously qualities and powers: powerful qualities. Application of this thesis to familiar issues in the philosophy of mind yields surprising results.Less
Implicit in much contemporary philosophy is a Picture Theory of language according to which we can ‘read off’ features of the world from features of our ways of talking about the world. Predicates applying truthfully to objects, for instance, are taken to name properties of those objects possessed by every object to which the predicates apply. Such a principle might be thought to follow from a more general ‘truth‐making’ requirement (truths require truth‐makers) together with the idea that truth‐makers entail truths. I argue that truth‐making is not entailment and that the Picture Theory should be jettisoned and replaced by an attitude of ontological seriousness. Freed of constraints imposed by the Picture Theory, we are in a position to see our way through metaphysical difficulties associated with contemporary philosophy of mind. Following Locke (and C. B. Martin), I endorse a conception of properties as modes (or tropes): ways particular objects are. Modes are simultaneously qualities and powers: powerful qualities. Application of this thesis to familiar issues in the philosophy of mind yields surprising results.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199259748
- eISBN:
- 9780191597657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259747.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Ontology is inescapable: even anti‐realists must be realists about something (minds, language, theories). Contemporary ontology has suffered from allegiance to an implicit Picture Theory of language ...
More
Ontology is inescapable: even anti‐realists must be realists about something (minds, language, theories). Contemporary ontology has suffered from allegiance to an implicit Picture Theory of language according to which we can ‘read off’ features of the world from our ways of talking about it. One result is the widespread popularity of ‘levels’ of reality.Less
Ontology is inescapable: even anti‐realists must be realists about something (minds, language, theories). Contemporary ontology has suffered from allegiance to an implicit Picture Theory of language according to which we can ‘read off’ features of the world from our ways of talking about it. One result is the widespread popularity of ‘levels’ of reality.
Herman Cappelen and Ernie Lepore
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231195
- eISBN:
- 9780191710810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231195.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter begins with a discussion of the two most serious versions of the Use Theory, namely Saka's and Recanati's Use Theories respectively. It then covers the history of Use Theories and the ...
More
This chapter begins with a discussion of the two most serious versions of the Use Theory, namely Saka's and Recanati's Use Theories respectively. It then covers the history of Use Theories and the evaluation of Use Theories. It argues that the practice of quotation incorporates a wide array of exceedingly confusing and complex data. It is doubtful that any theory will be able to account for all of this in anything remotely like an elegant and simple manner.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of the two most serious versions of the Use Theory, namely Saka's and Recanati's Use Theories respectively. It then covers the history of Use Theories and the evaluation of Use Theories. It argues that the practice of quotation incorporates a wide array of exceedingly confusing and complex data. It is doubtful that any theory will be able to account for all of this in anything remotely like an elegant and simple manner.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199259748
- eISBN:
- 9780191597657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259747.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Only philosophers beguiled by the Picture Theory could imagine that we are in a position to discover deep truths about the world by analysing language. Absolutists hold that, for stretches of ...
More
Only philosophers beguiled by the Picture Theory could imagine that we are in a position to discover deep truths about the world by analysing language. Absolutists hold that, for stretches of discourse concerning which we are ‘realists’, terms line up with mind‐independent objects and properties, or are analysable into terms that so line up; eliminativists, noting that such alignment is hard to come by, deny that the terms refer; relativists are suspicious of mind‐independence. I recommend a realism shorn of the Picture Theory.Less
Only philosophers beguiled by the Picture Theory could imagine that we are in a position to discover deep truths about the world by analysing language. Absolutists hold that, for stretches of discourse concerning which we are ‘realists’, terms line up with mind‐independent objects and properties, or are analysable into terms that so line up; eliminativists, noting that such alignment is hard to come by, deny that the terms refer; relativists are suspicious of mind‐independence. I recommend a realism shorn of the Picture Theory.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199259748
- eISBN:
- 9780191597657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259747.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Truths require truth‐makers; but what is it to be ‘made true’? One possibility: truth‐makers entail truths. I reject this account, arguing that entailment is a relation holding among representations, ...
More
Truths require truth‐makers; but what is it to be ‘made true’? One possibility: truth‐makers entail truths. I reject this account, arguing that entailment is a relation holding among representations, and suggesting that the entailment model owes its plausibility to an implicit acceptance of the Picture Theory.Less
Truths require truth‐makers; but what is it to be ‘made true’? One possibility: truth‐makers entail truths. I reject this account, arguing that entailment is a relation holding among representations, and suggesting that the entailment model owes its plausibility to an implicit acceptance of the Picture Theory.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199259748
- eISBN:
- 9780191597657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259747.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Realists take truth seriously, but what does realism require? Misguided commitment to a certain principle, (Φ), has led philosophers down the garden path. According to (Φ) predicates applying truly ...
More
Realists take truth seriously, but what does realism require? Misguided commitment to a certain principle, (Φ), has led philosophers down the garden path. According to (Φ) predicates applying truly to objects do so by virtue of naming properties possessed by those objects and by every object to which they would apply. I provide reasons to reject (Φ) and thus to forego the hierarchical worldview (Φ) apparently implies.Less
Realists take truth seriously, but what does realism require? Misguided commitment to a certain principle, (Φ), has led philosophers down the garden path. According to (Φ) predicates applying truly to objects do so by virtue of naming properties possessed by those objects and by every object to which they would apply. I provide reasons to reject (Φ) and thus to forego the hierarchical worldview (Φ) apparently implies.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199259748
- eISBN:
- 9780191597657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259747.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Proponents of the idea that reality is hierarchical appeal to the ‘multiple realizability’ of higher‐level properties. The ontology of multiple realizability is fuzzy, however, and in any case, we ...
More
Proponents of the idea that reality is hierarchical appeal to the ‘multiple realizability’ of higher‐level properties. The ontology of multiple realizability is fuzzy, however, and in any case, we can accommodate putative examples of multiple realizability without positing higher‐level properties. Predicates taken to name such properties are better understood as being satisfied by diverse but similar properties. Ontological reduction does not imply analytical or explanatory reduction.Less
Proponents of the idea that reality is hierarchical appeal to the ‘multiple realizability’ of higher‐level properties. The ontology of multiple realizability is fuzzy, however, and in any case, we can accommodate putative examples of multiple realizability without positing higher‐level properties. Predicates taken to name such properties are better understood as being satisfied by diverse but similar properties. Ontological reduction does not imply analytical or explanatory reduction.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846310522
- eISBN:
- 9781846316128
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846310522.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The ubiquity of photographic images in contemporary society has raised concerns among some theorists, including Vilém Flusser, who theorises the impact of the predominance of photography on an ...
More
The ubiquity of photographic images in contemporary society has raised concerns among some theorists, including Vilém Flusser, who theorises the impact of the predominance of photography on an image's provenance. The proliferation of photography has led to the popularity of photo-texts. In Iconology (1986), and then in Picture Theory (1994), the Chicago-based literary critic W. J. T. Mitchell has consistently maintained the respective autonomies of text and image while exploring their interaction. Drawing on his essay on the photo-essay from Picture Theory, this chapter analyses the ‘distance’ between text and photographic image, first considering the photobook before turning to Roland Barthes and his ideas for a discussion on photo-essayism. It concludes by suggesting that there is a danger in photo-essayism of simply describing a photographic image.Less
The ubiquity of photographic images in contemporary society has raised concerns among some theorists, including Vilém Flusser, who theorises the impact of the predominance of photography on an image's provenance. The proliferation of photography has led to the popularity of photo-texts. In Iconology (1986), and then in Picture Theory (1994), the Chicago-based literary critic W. J. T. Mitchell has consistently maintained the respective autonomies of text and image while exploring their interaction. Drawing on his essay on the photo-essay from Picture Theory, this chapter analyses the ‘distance’ between text and photographic image, first considering the photobook before turning to Roland Barthes and his ideas for a discussion on photo-essayism. It concludes by suggesting that there is a danger in photo-essayism of simply describing a photographic image.
