Is compositionality compatible with holism?

Mind and Language 12 (1):11-33 (1997)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Peter Pagin Is the principle of semantic compositionality compatible with the principle of semantic holism? The question is of interest, since both principles have a lot that speaks for them, and since they do seem to be in conflict. The view that natural languages have compositional structure is almost unavoidable, since linguistic communication by means of new combinations of words would be virtually incomprehensible otherwise. And holism too seems generally plausible, since the meaning of an expression is directly connected with the way that expression interacts with other.

Other Versions

reprint Pagin, Peter (2010) "Is compositionality compatible with holism?". In Byrne, Darragh, Kölbel, Max, Arguing about language, pp. : Routledge (2010)

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,459

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Semantic Holism and Language Learning.Martin L. Jönsson - 2014 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 43 (4):725-759.
Semantic holism in scientific language.Holger Andreas - 2010 - Philosophy of Science 77 (4):524-543.
Semantic holism is here to stay.Johannes L. Brandl - 1986 - In Abraham Zvie Bar-On (ed.), Grazer Philosophische Studien. Distributed in the U.S.A. By Humanities Press. pp. 1-16.
Meaning Holism.Peter Pagin - 2006 - In Ernest LePore & Barry C. Smith (eds.), The Oxford Handbook to the Philosophy of Language. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
On Compositionality.Martin Jönsson - 2008 - Dissertation, Lund University
Communication and strong compositionality.Peter Pagin - 2003 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 32 (3):287-322.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
208 (#109,089)

6 months
10 (#312,166)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Peter Pagin
Stockholm University

Citations of this work

Inferentialism: Why Rules Matter.Jaroslav Peregrin - 2014 - London and New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Inferentialism.Florian Steinberger & Julien Murzi - 2017 - In Steinberger Florian & Murzi Julien (eds.), Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Language. pp. 197-224.
Semantic normativity.Åsa Maria Wikforss - 2001 - Philosophical Studies 102 (2):203-26.
Semantic Externalism and Psychological Externalism.Åsa Wikforss - 2008 - Philosophy Compass 3 (1):158-181.

View all 30 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Inquiries Into Truth And Interpretation.Donald Davidson - 1984 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
The logical basis of metaphysics.Michael Dummett - 1991 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Thought.Gilbert Harman - 1973 - Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.
Holism: A Shopper's Guide.Jerry A. Fodor & Ernest Lepore - 1992 - Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell. Edited by Ernest LePore.
Truth and meaning.Donald Davidson - 1967 - Synthese 17 (1):304-323.

View all 21 references / Add more references