Meta-Metasemantics, or the Quest for the One True Metasemantics

Philosophical Quarterly 72 (1):135-154 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

What determines the meaning of a context-sensitive expression in a context? It is standardly assumed that, for a given expression type, there will be a unitary answer to this question; most of the literature on the subject involves arguments designed to show that one particular metasemantic proposal is superior to a specific set of alternatives. The task of the present essay will be to explore whether this is a warranted assumption, or whether the quest for the one true metasemantics might be a Quixotic one. We argue that there are good reasons—much better than are commonly appreciated—for thinking the latter, but that there nevertheless remains significant scope for metasemantic theorizing. We conclude by outlining our preferred option, metasemantic pluralism.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

The Metasemantics of Contextual Sensitivity.Jeffrey C. King - 2014 - In Alexis Burgess & Brett Sherman (eds.), Metasemantics: New Essays on the Foundations of Meaning. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 97-118.
From metasemantics to analyticity.Zeynep Soysal - 2020 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 103 (1):57-76.
Words by convention.Gail Leckie & Robert Williams - 2019 - In Ernie Lepore & David Sosa (eds.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Language, Volume 1. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Metasemantics without semantic intentions.Karen S. Lewis - 2022 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 65 (8):991-1019.
Metasemantics and Legal Interpretation.Ori Simchen - 2015 - In George Pavlakos & Veronica Rodriguez-Blanco (eds.), Reasons and Intentions in Law and Practical Agency. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 72-92.
Foundations for Metasemantics.Daniel Cohnitz & Jussi Haukioja - forthcoming - Oxford University Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-02-21

Downloads
653 (#40,824)

6 months
133 (#37,587)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Ethan Nowak
Stanford University
Eliot Michaelson
King's College London

Citations of this work

LLMs, Turing tests and Chinese rooms: the prospects for meaning in large language models.Emma Borg - forthcoming - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.
What is the proper function of language?Eliot Michaelson - 2024 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 67 (8):2791-2814.
Discourse and method.Ethan Nowak & Eliot Michaelson - 2020 - Linguistics and Philosophy 43 (2):119-138.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Philosophical Investigations.Ludwig Wittgenstein - 1953 - New York, NY, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. Edited by G. E. M. Anscombe.
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. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 481-563.
Individualism and the mental.Tyler Burge - 1979 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 4 (1):73-122.
Literal Meaning.François Récanati - 2002 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Philosophical investigations.Ludwig Wittgenstein & G. E. M. Anscombe - 1953 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 161:124-124.

View all 47 references / Add more references