Andrei Marmor and Scott Soames (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199572380
- eISBN:
- 9780191728914
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572380.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This book brings together the best contemporary philosophical work in the area of the intersection between philosophy of language and the law. Some of the contributors are philosophers of language ...
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This book brings together the best contemporary philosophical work in the area of the intersection between philosophy of language and the law. Some of the contributors are philosophers of language who are interested in applying advances in philosophy of language to legal issues, and some of the participants are philosophers of law who are interested in applying insights and theories from philosophy of language to their work on the nature of law and legal interpretation. By making this body of recent work available in a single volume, this book gives both a general overview of the various interactions between language and law, and also detailed analyses of particular areas in which this interaction is manifest. The contributions to this volume are grouped under three main general areas: The first area concerns a critical assessment, in light of recent advances in philosophy of language, of the foundational role of language in understanding the nature of law itself. The second main area concerns a number of ways in which an understanding of language can resolve some of the issues prevalent in legal interpretation, such as the various ways in which semantic content can differ from law's assertive content; the contribution of presuppositions and pragmatic implicatures in understanding what the law conveys; the role of vagueness in legal language, for example. The third general topic concerns the role of language in the context of particular legal doctrines and legal solutions to practical problems, such as the legal definitions of inchoate crimes, the legal definition of torture, or the contractual doctrines concerning default rules.Less
This book brings together the best contemporary philosophical work in the area of the intersection between philosophy of language and the law. Some of the contributors are philosophers of language who are interested in applying advances in philosophy of language to legal issues, and some of the participants are philosophers of law who are interested in applying insights and theories from philosophy of language to their work on the nature of law and legal interpretation. By making this body of recent work available in a single volume, this book gives both a general overview of the various interactions between language and law, and also detailed analyses of particular areas in which this interaction is manifest. The contributions to this volume are grouped under three main general areas: The first area concerns a critical assessment, in light of recent advances in philosophy of language, of the foundational role of language in understanding the nature of law itself. The second main area concerns a number of ways in which an understanding of language can resolve some of the issues prevalent in legal interpretation, such as the various ways in which semantic content can differ from law's assertive content; the contribution of presuppositions and pragmatic implicatures in understanding what the law conveys; the role of vagueness in legal language, for example. The third general topic concerns the role of language in the context of particular legal doctrines and legal solutions to practical problems, such as the legal definitions of inchoate crimes, the legal definition of torture, or the contractual doctrines concerning default rules.
Scott Soames
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199251520
- eISBN:
- 9780191719165
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199251520.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter draws a distinction between the semantic content of a sentence, and the assertive content of a normal, literal utterance of it. Semantic content is a set of constraints that determines a ...
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This chapter draws a distinction between the semantic content of a sentence, and the assertive content of a normal, literal utterance of it. Semantic content is a set of constraints that determines a class of structural enrichments of the minimal proposition, or proposition-matrix, satisfying the constraints. Pragmatic aspects of the context determine which propositions in this class are then asserted. Even when the constraints determine a complete minimal proposition (traditionally identified as the semantic content), it is not always asserted, and, whether or not it is, other propositions typically are. Examples involving linguistically simple, as well as partially descriptive, names are used to illustrate the view — which has the effect of reconciling certain Fregean intuitions about assertions and beliefs with a Millian semantics of names.Less
This chapter draws a distinction between the semantic content of a sentence, and the assertive content of a normal, literal utterance of it. Semantic content is a set of constraints that determines a class of structural enrichments of the minimal proposition, or proposition-matrix, satisfying the constraints. Pragmatic aspects of the context determine which propositions in this class are then asserted. Even when the constraints determine a complete minimal proposition (traditionally identified as the semantic content), it is not always asserted, and, whether or not it is, other propositions typically are. Examples involving linguistically simple, as well as partially descriptive, names are used to illustrate the view — which has the effect of reconciling certain Fregean intuitions about assertions and beliefs with a Millian semantics of names.
Stephen Yablo
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144955
- eISBN:
- 9781400845989
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144955.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Aboutness has been studied from any number of angles. Brentano made it the defining feature of the mental. Phenomenologists try to pin down the aboutness features of particular mental states. ...
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Aboutness has been studied from any number of angles. Brentano made it the defining feature of the mental. Phenomenologists try to pin down the aboutness features of particular mental states. Materialists sometimes claim to have grounded aboutness in natural regularities. Attempts have even been made, in library science and information theory, to operationalize the notion. However, it has played no real role in philosophical semantics, which is surprising. This is the first book to examine through a philosophical lens the role of subject matter in meaning. A long-standing tradition sees meaning as truth conditions, to be specified by listing the scenarios in which a sentence is true. Nothing is said about the principle of selection—about what in a scenario gets it onto the list. Subject matter is the missing link here. A sentence is true because of how matters stand where its subject matter is concerned. This book maintains that this is not just a feature of subject matter, but its essence. One indicates what a sentence is about by mapping out logical space according to its changing ways of being true or false. The notion of content that results—directed content—is brought to bear on a range of philosophical topics, including ontology, verisimilitude, knowledge, loose talk, assertive content, and philosophical methodology. The book represents a major advance in semantics and the philosophy of language.Less
Aboutness has been studied from any number of angles. Brentano made it the defining feature of the mental. Phenomenologists try to pin down the aboutness features of particular mental states. Materialists sometimes claim to have grounded aboutness in natural regularities. Attempts have even been made, in library science and information theory, to operationalize the notion. However, it has played no real role in philosophical semantics, which is surprising. This is the first book to examine through a philosophical lens the role of subject matter in meaning. A long-standing tradition sees meaning as truth conditions, to be specified by listing the scenarios in which a sentence is true. Nothing is said about the principle of selection—about what in a scenario gets it onto the list. Subject matter is the missing link here. A sentence is true because of how matters stand where its subject matter is concerned. This book maintains that this is not just a feature of subject matter, but its essence. One indicates what a sentence is about by mapping out logical space according to its changing ways of being true or false. The notion of content that results—directed content—is brought to bear on a range of philosophical topics, including ontology, verisimilitude, knowledge, loose talk, assertive content, and philosophical methodology. The book represents a major advance in semantics and the philosophy of language.
