Abstract
In my paper, I present two competing perspectives on the foundational problem (as opposed to the descriptive problem) of quantifier domain restriction: the objective perspective on context (OPC) and the intentional perspective on context (IPC). According to OPC, the relevant domain for a quantified sentence is determined by objective facts of the context of utterance. In contrast, according to IPC, we must consider certain features of the speaker’s intention in order to determine the proposition expressed. My goal is to offer a plausible and fair reconstruction of IPC. Drawing a parallel between quantifier domain restriction and standard cases of context dependence as indexicality, I argue that the speaker’s intentions can play a semantic role only if they satisfy an Availability Constraint: an intention must be made available or communicated to the addressee, and for that purpose the speaker can exploit any feature of the objective context (words, gestures, relevance or uniqueness of either the quantificational domain or of the referent in the context of utterance). An intention satisfying the Availability Constraint must be something that a hearer in normal circumstances is able to work out by relying on the physical surroundings of the utterance situation, on utterances exchanged during the previous conversation, and on background knowledge shared by speaker and addressee.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Almog J. Perry H. Wettstein (Eds) (1989) Themes from Kaplan Oxford University Press Oxford
K. Bach (1992a) ArticleTitle‘Paving the road to reference’ Philosophical Studies 67 295–300 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00354541
K. Bach (1992b) ArticleTitle‘Intentions and Demonstrations’ Analysis 52 IssueID3 140–146 Occurrence Handle10.2307/3328374
K. Bach R.M. Harnish (1979) Linguistic Communications and Speech Acts MIT Press Cambridge, MA
K. Bach R.M. Harnish (1992) ArticleTitle‘How Performatives Really Work: A Reply to Searle’ Linguistics and Philosophy 15 93–110 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00635834
C. Bianchi (2001a) La dipendenza contestuale. Per una teoria pragmatica del significato Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane Napoli
C. Bianchi (2001b) ‘Context of Utterance and Intended Context’ V. Akman (Eds) et al. Modeling and Using Context. Third International and Interdisciplinary Conference, CONTEXT ‘01 Springer Berlin 73–86
C. Bianchi (2003) ‘How to Refer: Objective Context vs. IntentionalContext’ P. Blackburn (Eds) et al. Modeling and Using Context. Fourth International and Interdisciplinary Conference, CONTEXT ‘03, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence NumberInSeriesVol. 2680 Springer Berlin 54–65
C. Bianchi (Eds) (2004) The Semantics/Pragmatics Distinction CSLI Stanford
H. Clark (1992) Arenas of Language Use The University of Chicago Press & CSLI Stanford
K. Donnellan (1968) ArticleTitle‘Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again’ The Philosophical Review 77 203–215 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2183321
M. Garcia-Carpintero (1998) ArticleTitle‘Indexicals as Token-Reflexives’ Mind 107 529–563 Occurrence Handle10.1093/mind/107.427.529
C. Gauker (1997) ArticleTitle‘Domain of Discourse’ Mind 106 1–32 Occurrence Handle10.1093/mind/106.421.1
C. Gauker (1998a) ArticleTitle‘What is a context of utterance?’ Philosophical Studies 91 149–172 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1004247202476
C. Gauker (1998b) ArticleTitle‘Intelligibility in Semantics: Reply to van Deemter’ Mind 107 447–450 Occurrence Handle10.1093/mind/107.426.447
C. Gauker (2001) ArticleTitle‘Situated Inference versus Conversational Implicature’ Nous 35 IssueID2 163–189 Occurrence Handle10.1111/0029-4624.00292
B. Hale C. Wright (Eds) (1997) A Companion to the Philosophy of Language Blackwell Oxford
Kaplan, D. (1977): ‘Demonstratives. An Essay on the Semantics, Logic, Metaphysics, and Epistemology of Demonstratives and Other Indexicals’, in J. Almog et al. (1989), pp. 481–563.
Kaplan, D. (1978): ‘Dthat’, in P. French, T. Uehling and H. Wettstein (eds.), (1979): Contemporary Perspectives in the Philosophy of Language, pp. 383–400.
Kaplan, D. (1989). ‘Afterthoughts’. in J. Almog et al. (1989), pp. 565–614.
Penco, C. (2004): ‘Context and Contract’, in P. Bouquet et al. (eds.), Contexts, Stanford: CSLI, forthcoming.
Perry, J. (1997): ‘Indexicals and Demonstratives’, in Hale and Wright (1997), pp. 586–612.
M. Reimer (1991a) ArticleTitle‘Demonstratives, Demonstrations, and Demonstrata’ Philosophical Studies 67 187–202 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00381687
M. Reimer (1991b) ArticleTitle‘Do Demonstratives Have Semantic Significance?’ Analysis 51 IssueID4 177–183 Occurrence Handle10.2307/3328751
M. Reimer (1998) ArticleTitle‘Quantification and Context’ Linguistics and Philosophy 21 95–115 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1005387824428
L. Roberts (1993) How Reference Works. Explanatory Models for Indexicals, Descriptions, and Opacity State University of New York Press Albany
L. Roberts (1997) ArticleTitle‘How Demonstrations Connect with Referential Intentions’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy 75 IssueID2 190–200 Occurrence Handle10.1080/00048409712347791
M. Sbisà (2002a) ‘Il contesto fra dimensione cognitiva e oggettività’ P. Parrini (Eds) Conoscenza e cognizione. Tra filosofia e scienza cognitiva Guerini Milano 243–256
M. Sbisà (2002b) ArticleTitle‘Speech acts in context’ Language and Communication 2 421–436 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0271-5309(02)00018-6
Stalnaker, R. (1997): ‘Reference and Necessity’ in Hale and Wright (1997), pp. 534–554.
R. Stalnaker (1999) Context and Content Oxford University Press Oxford
J. Stanley Z. Szabò (2000) ArticleTitle‘On Quantifier Domain Restriction’ Mind and Language 15 IssueID2 219–261 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1468-0017.00130
Ch. Travis (1981) The True and the False: the Domain of Pragmatics Benjamins Amsterdam
K. Deemter Particlevan (1998) ArticleTitle‘Domains of Discourse and the Semantics of Ambiguous Utterances: A Reply to Gauker’ Mind 107 443–445
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bianchi, C. ‘Nobody Loves Me’: Quantification and Context. Philos Stud 130, 377–397 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-004-5749-1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-004-5749-1