Skip to main content
Log in

In the Mood

  • Published:
Journal of Philosophical Logic Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to challenge some received assumptions about the logical analysis of modal English, and to show that these assumptions are crucial to certain debates in current philosophy of language. Specifically, I will argue that the standard analysis in terms of quantified modal logic mistakenly fudges important grammatical distinctions, and that the validity of Kripke's modal argument against description theories of proper names crucially depends on ensuing equivocations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

REFERENCES

  • Burgess, J. P. and Rosen, G. (1997) A Subject with No Object, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, D. (2002) On sense and intension, Philosophical Perspectives 16, 135-182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Condoravdi, C. (2001) Temporal interpretation of modals: Modals for the present and for the past, in D. Beaver, S. Kaufmann, B. Clark, and L. Casillas (eds.), Stanford Papers on Semantics, CSLI Publications, Stanford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, J. N. and Humberstone, I. L. (1977) The logic of 'Actually', Reports on Mathematical Logic 8, 11-29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dummett, M. (1973) Frege-Philosophy of Language, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazen, A. (1976) Expressive completeness in modal language, J. Philos. Logic 5, 25-46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazen, A. (1990) Actuality and quantification, Notre Dame J. Formal Logic 31, 498-508.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodes, H. T. (1984) Some theorems on the expressive limitations of modal languages, J. Philos. Logic 13, 13-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humberstone, I. L. (1982) Scope and subjunctivity, Philosophia 12, 99-126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humberstone, I. L. (2000) Propositional Attitudes: Some Logical Issues, Unpublished typescript.

  • Humberstone, I. L. (2004) Two-dimensional adventures, Philos. Stud. 118, 17-65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kripke, S. A. (1977) Speaker's reference and semantic reference, in P. A. French, T. E.

  • Uehling, Jr., and H. K. Wettstein (eds.), Studies in the Philosophy of Language (Mid-west Studies in Philosophy 2), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. Reprinted in and quoted according to: Readings in the Philosophy of Language, ed. Peter Ludlow, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 383-414.

  • Kripke, S. A. (1980) Naming and Necessity, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, D. (1973) Counterfactuals, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nute, D. and Cross, C. B. (2001) Conditional logic, in D. M. Gabbay and F. Guenthner (eds.), Handbook of Philosophical Logic, Vol. 4, 2nd edn, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 1-98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardey, U. (1994) Identität, Existenz und Reflexivität-Sprachanalytische Untersuchungen zur deskriptiven Metaphysik, Beltz Athenäum, Weinheim, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soames, S. (1998) The modal argument: Wide scope and rigidified descriptions, Noûs 32, 1-22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sosa, D. (2001) Rigidity in the scope of Russell's theory, Noûs 35, 1-38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, J. (1997) Names and rigid designation, in B. Hale and C. Wright (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 555-585.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehmeier, K. F. (2003) World travelling and mood swings, in B. Löwe, W. Malzkorn, and T. Räsch (eds.), Foundations of the Formal Sciences II, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 257-260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehmeier, K. F. (forthcoming) Modality, mood, and descriptions, in R. Kahle (ed.), Intensionality-an Interdisciplinary Discussion, A.K. Peters, New York.

  • Yablo, S. (2002) Coulda, woulda, shoulda, in T. Gendler and J. Hawthorne (eds.), Conceivability and Possibility, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 441-492.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wehmeier, K.F. In the Mood. Journal of Philosophical Logic 33, 607–630 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:LOGI.0000046193.69391.18

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:LOGI.0000046193.69391.18

Navigation