Mark Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199269259
- eISBN:
- 9780191710155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269259.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Drawing upon the rich experience gathered within applied mathematics, various ‘facade patterns’ are examined that frequently develop when an originating usage enlarges its descriptive scope through ...
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Drawing upon the rich experience gathered within applied mathematics, various ‘facade patterns’ are examined that frequently develop when an originating usage enlarges its descriptive scope through patch-to-patch prolongation. The completed results can generate a global structure that is syntactically inconsistent as a whole, yet avoids logical ruination through simple restrictions upon data exportation from one patch to another (a ‘Riemann surface’ represents a standard mathematical prototype of the phenomenon). It is argued that not only do such facades often represent the natural end products of ordinary linguistic development, they often provide particularly effective forms of linguistic engineering. Philosophical puzzles sometimes arise when these alternative patterns of semantic design get mistaken for classical models, as the troubled history of ‘force’ effectively illustrates. The fact that we can rarely determine whether an initial collection of descriptive vocabulary is destined to develop into a facade rather than implementing a simpler pattern of word/world alignment provides a convenient indication of the degree to which a classical picture of conceptual grasp exaggerates our capacity to augur the fate of our descriptive words over time.Less
Drawing upon the rich experience gathered within applied mathematics, various ‘facade patterns’ are examined that frequently develop when an originating usage enlarges its descriptive scope through patch-to-patch prolongation. The completed results can generate a global structure that is syntactically inconsistent as a whole, yet avoids logical ruination through simple restrictions upon data exportation from one patch to another (a ‘Riemann surface’ represents a standard mathematical prototype of the phenomenon). It is argued that not only do such facades often represent the natural end products of ordinary linguistic development, they often provide particularly effective forms of linguistic engineering. Philosophical puzzles sometimes arise when these alternative patterns of semantic design get mistaken for classical models, as the troubled history of ‘force’ effectively illustrates. The fact that we can rarely determine whether an initial collection of descriptive vocabulary is destined to develop into a facade rather than implementing a simpler pattern of word/world alignment provides a convenient indication of the degree to which a classical picture of conceptual grasp exaggerates our capacity to augur the fate of our descriptive words over time.
