Against Truth-Conditional Theories of Meaning: Three Lessons from the Language(s) of Fiction
Res Philosophica 93 (2):441-459 (2016)
Abstract
Fictional discourse and fictional languages provide useful test cases for theories of meaning. In this paper, we argue against truth-conditional accounts of meaning on the basis of problems posed by language(s) of fiction. It is well-known how fictional discourse -- discourse about non-existent objects -- poses a problem for truth-conditional theories of meaning. Less well-considered, however, are the problems posed by fictional languages, which can be created to either be meaningful or not to be meaningful; both of these ultimately also provide problems for a truth-conditional account of meaning, because it cannot account for the ways in which we use and evaluate such fictional languages.Author Profiles
ISBN(s)
2168-9105
DOI
10.11612/resphil.2016.2.93.4
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References found in this work
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