The A Priori‐Operator and the Nesting Problem

Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 5 (3):169-176 (2016)
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Abstract

Many expressions intuitively have different epistemic and modal profiles. For example, co-referring proper names are substitutable salva veritate in modal contexts but not in belief-contexts. Two-dimensional semantics, according to which terms have both a so-called primary and a secondary intension, is a framework that promises to accommodate and explain these diverging intuitions. The framework can be applied to indexicals, proper names or predicates. Graeme Forbes argues that the two-dimensional semantics of David Chalmers fails to account for so-called nested contexts. These are linguistic contexts where a sentence is embedded under both epistemic and modal operators. Chalmers and Rabern suggest a two-dimensional solution to the problem. Their semantics solves the nesting-problem, but at the cost of invalidating certain plausible principles. We suggest a solution that is both simpler and avoids this cost.

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Author Profiles

Eric Johannesson
Stockholm University
Sara Sofia Packalén
Stockholm University

Citations of this work

Two-dimensional semantics.Laura Schroeter - 2010 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The nesting problem of two‐dimensional semantics.Zhaoqing Xu - 2021 - Philosophical Forum 52 (2):177-183.

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References found in this work

Demonstratives: An Essay on the Semantics, Logic, Metaphysics and Epistemology of Demonstratives and other Indexicals.David Kaplan - 1989 - In Joseph Almog, John Perry & Howard Wettstein (eds.), Themes From Kaplan. Oxford University Press. pp. 481-563.
Reference and Description: The Case Against Two-Dimensionalism.Scott Soames - 2005 - Princeton: Princeton University Press. Edited by Frank Jackson & Michael Smith.
Reference and Description. The Case against Two-Dimensionalism.[author unknown] - 2006 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 68 (2):406-408.

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