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  1.  23
    How to Think about Meaning.Paul Saka - 2007 - Dordrecht: Springer.
    According to truth-conditional semantics, to explain the meaning of a statement is to specify the conditions necessary and sufficient for its truth. This book develops a more radical mentalist semantics by shifting the object of semantic inquiry. Classical semantics analyzes an abstract sentence or utterance such as "Grass is green"; in attitudinal semantics the object of inquiry is a propositional attitude such as "Speaker so-and-so thinks grass is green".
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  2. Quotation and the use-mention distinction.Paul Saka - 1998 - Mind 107 (425):113-135.
    Quote marks, I claim, serve to select from the multiple ostensions that are produced whenever any expression is uttered; they act to constrain pragmatic ambiguity or indeterminacy. My argument proceeds by showing that the proffered account fares better than its rivals-the Name, Description, Demonstrative, and Identity Theories. Along the way I shall need to explain and emphasize that quoting is not simply the same thing as mentioning. Quoting, but not mentioning, relies on the use of conventional devices.
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  3. Ought Does Not Imply Can.Paul Saka - 2000 - American Philosophical Quarterly 37 (2):93 - 105.
    Moral philosophers widely believe that it is a part of the MEANING of 'ought' statements that they imply 'can' statements. To this thesis I offer three challenges, and then I conclude on a broader methodological note. (1) Epistemological Modal Argument: for all we know, determinism is true; determinism contradicts “ought implies can”; therefore we don’t know that 'ought' implies 'can'. (2) Metaphysical Modal Argument: determinism is conceptually possible; determinism contradicts “ought implies can”; therefore “ought implies can” is not an analytic (...)
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  4.  2
    (1 other version)Quotational Constructions.Paul Saka - 2003 - Belgian Journal of Linguistics 17:187-212.
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  5.  61
    The Demonstrative and Identity Theories of Quotation.Paul Saka - 2006 - Journal of Philosophy 103 (9):452-471.
    The Demonstrative Theory holds that quoted matter is logically external to the quoting sentence, that quotation marks are (demonstratively) referential, and that quotation marks are grammatically required for autonomous mentioning. In contrast, the Identity Theory holds that quoted matter is integral to its quoting sentence, that quotation marks serve merely as disambiguating punctuation, and that mentionings need not be quotation-marked. I support the Identity Theory by pointing out fallacies in the arguments for demonstrative theories and by considering empty quotation, ordinary (...)
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  6. Quotation.Paul Saka - 2013 - Philosophy Compass 8 (10):935-949.
    Understanding quotation is fundamental to understanding the nature of truth and meaning. Quotation, however, is a remarkably complicated phenomenon, and a vigorous literature on the topic has been growing at an increasing rate.§1 To give you a sense of this work, §1 enlarges upon the significance of studying quotation; §2 presents a rudimentary taxonomy of quotation; and §3 critically surveys theories of how quotation works.
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  7.  24
    The Semantics and Pragmatics of Quotation.Paul Saka & Michael Johnson (eds.) - 2017 - Cham: Springer.
    The chapters in this volume address a variety of issues surrounding quotation, such as whether it is a pragmatic or semantic phenomenon, what varieties of quotation exist, and what speech acts are involved in quoting. Quotation poses problems for many prevailing theories of language. One fundamental principle is that for a language to be learnable, speakers must be able to derive the truth-conditions of sentences from the meanings of their parts. Another popular view is that indexical expressions like "I" display (...)
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  8. Quotation and Conceptions of Language.Paul Saka - 2011 - Dialectica 65 (2):205-220.
    This paper discusses empty quotation (‘’ is an empty string) and lexical quotation (his praise was, quote, fulsome, unquote), it challenges the minimal theory of quotation (‘ “x” ’ quotes ‘x’) and it defends the identity theory of quotation. In the process it illuminates disciplinary differences between the science of language and the philosophy of language. First, most philosophers assume, without argument, that language includes writing, whereas linguists have reason to identify language with speech (plus sign language). Second, philosophers tend (...)
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  9. The Act of Quotation.Paul Saka - 2011 - In Elke Brendel, Jörg Meibauer & Markus Steinbach (eds.), Understanding Quotation. De Gruyter Mouton.
    I focus on one approach to understanding quotation, the identity theory; I delineate varieties thereof; and I cite some considerations for favoring a speech-act version. Along the way we shall see how the study of quotation can illuminate the general conflict between speech-act semantics and formal semantics, and we shall see fresh arguments for insisting that the mechanism of quotation is referentially indeterminate.
     
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  10. Rarely pure and never simple: Tensions in the theory of truth.Paul Saka - 2010 - Topoi 29 (2):125-135.
    Section 1 discerns ambiguity in the word “truth”, observing that the term is used most naturally in reference to truth-bearers rather than truth-makers. Focusing on truths-as-truth-bearers, then, it would appear that alethic realism conflicts with metaphysical realism as naturalistically construed. Section 2 discerns ambiguity in the purporting of truth (as in assertion), conjecturing that all expressions, not just those found in traditionally recognized opaque contexts, can be read intensionally (as well, perhaps, as extensionally). For instance, we would not generally want (...)
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  11. Spurning charity.Paul Saka - 2007 - Axiomathes 17 (2):197-208.
    The principle of charity (“Charity”), in one form or other, is held by many and for various reasons. After cataloging discernible kinds of Charity, I focus on the most familiar versions as found in Davidson, Dennett, Devitt, Lewis, Putnam, Quine, Stich, and others. To begin with, I argue that such versions of Charity are untenable because beliefs cannot be counted, and even if they could be counted there is reason to believe that true beliefs need not outnumber false beliefs. Next (...)
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  12.  49
    The Argument from Ignorance against Truth-Conditional Semantics.Paul Saka - 2007 - American Philosophical Quarterly 44 (2):157 - 169.
    According to orthodox semantics, to know the meaning of a sentence is to know its truth-conditions. Against this view I observe that we typically do not know the truth-conditions of the sentences we understand. We do not know the truth-conditions, for instance, of empty definite descriptions, non-declaratives, subjunctive conditionals, causal ascriptions, belief ascriptions, probability statements, figurative language, category mistakes, normative judgments, or vague statements. Appealing to tacit knowledge does not help, for the problem goes beyond our inability to articulate complete (...)
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  13.  56
    Ignorance of language - by Michael Devitt.Paul Saka - 2008 - Philosophical Books 49 (2):161-163.
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  14. Lexical Decomposition in Cognitive Semantics.Paul Saka - 1991 - Dissertation, The University of Arizona
    This dissertation formulates, defends, and exemplifies a semantic approach that I call Cognitive Decompositionism. Cognitive Decompositionism is one version of lexical decompositionism, which holds that the meaning of lexical items are decomposable into component parts. Decompositionism comes in different varieties that can be characterized in terms of four binary parameters. First, Natural Decompositionism contrasts with Artful Decompositionism. The former views components as word-like, the latter views components more abstractly. Second, Convenient Decompositionism claims that components are merely convenient fictions, while Real (...)
     
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  15. Mind and Paradox.Paul Saka - 2013 - Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 25 (3):377-87.
    Paradoxes are mind-dependent in a number of ways. First, by definition, paradoxes offer surprises or apparent contradictions. Since surprise and appearance rely on subjective psychological reactions, paradoxes rely on psychological events. Second, propositional versions of the liar paradox must eventually appeal to sentences if they are to achieve traction, yet sentential versions of the liar paradox rely on language and hence on mentality. Third, belief paradoxes such as B, "No one believes B", transparently hinge on the existence of mental states. (...)
     
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  16. Meaning and the Ascription of Attitudes.Paul Saka - 1998 - Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    The present work develops a new theory of meaning---which I call attitudinal semantics---and applies it to solving three concrete problems. ;Chapter 1 notes that theories are to be understood and judged in comparison to their rivals. It accordingly sets out the dominant theory of meaning, truth-conditional semantics, which claims that to give the meaning of sentence is to give the conditions under which is true, as in . Chapter 2 articulates my alter native proposal, which claims that to give the (...)
     
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  17.  10
    Prospective Reference.Paul Saka - 2021 - In Fabrizio Macagno & Alessandro Capone (eds.), Inquiries in philosophical pragmatics. Theoretical developments. Cham: Springer. pp. 79-94.
    This paper describes the linguistic phenomenon of prospective reference. It is a form of deferred reference exemplified by “my cake is ready to go in the oven”, which is interesting because raw batter generally does not qualify as a cake, and “my baby is kicking,” said of a fetus. Because of its importance in political and commercial discourse, prospective reference demands attention from semantic-pragmatic theories in linguistics and jurisprudence. I argue that in at least some cases prospective reference is not (...)
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  18. Pascal's Wager.Paul Saka - 2002 - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  19.  41
    Reasons as Defaults By John F. Horty.Paul Saka - 2014 - Analysis 74 (2):358-360.
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  20.  27
    (1 other version)John Bishop: Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief: Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007, xii + 250 pp, $65.00. [REVIEW]Paul Saka - 2007 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 64 (2):107-109.
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  21.  51
    (1 other version)Jeff Jordan Pascal's Wager: Pragmatic arguments and belief in God. (Oxford: Clarendon press, 2006). Pp. X+227. $65.00; £35.00 (hbk). ISBN 978 0199291328. [REVIEW]Paul Saka - 2007 - Religious Studies 43 (4):492-496.