How Reference Works

Explanatory Models for Indexicals, Descriptions, and Opacity

AvLawrence D. Roberts

Häftad, Engelska, 1993

Del i serien SUNY series, Scientific Studies in Natural and Artificial Intelligence

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Beskrivning

Reveals how language and mind together anchor words to the world through context, attention, and meaning.In How Reference Works, Lawrence D. Roberts tackles one of the most persistent problems in the philosophy of language: how referring expressions in natural language succeed—or fail—in picking out objects in the world. Moving beyond word-centered theories, Roberts offers a unified framework that connects language, mind, and context in a way that reshapes how reference itself is understood.At the heart of this work is a series of explanatory models—ranging from indexicals and definite descriptions to attention-directing mechanisms and figure–ground structures—that illuminate how reference is determined in real communicative situations. Roberts extends these models into domains often left underexplored, including perception, identity, existence contexts, and opacity.This is not only a contribution to the philosophy of language, but also a provocative intervention in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. By treating reference as a joint product of linguistic structure and cognitive processes, Roberts opens new pathways for understanding perception, context, and meaning.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:1993-08-31
Mått:148 x 228 x 14 mm
Vikt:281 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:SUNY series, Scientific Studies in Natural and Artificial Intelligence
Antal sidor:192
Förlag:State University of New York Press
ISBN:9780791415764

Utforska kategorier

Artificiell intelligens inom Data och IT

Mer om författaren

Lawrence D. Roberts is Associate Professor in the Program in Philosophy, Computers, and System Science in the Department of Philosophy at State University of New York at Binghamton.

Recensioner i media

"This is a book about how certain referring expressions in a natural language (English) manage to refer to objects in the world when used by speakers. Within the philosophy of language, the problem of reference has never been adequately solved. When viewed as a work in the philosophy of language, this book offers an interesting approach (if not a solution) to the problem of reference. However, the book's appeal is much broader than the philosophy of language. The problem of reference is also important to the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. This is probably why philosophers of language never developed a theory of reference in the first place: they were looking at words only. Roberts, on the other hand, looks not only at words (referring expressions), but also at minds."The book's approach to the philosophy of mind and cognitive science is novel, and has something important to say to philosophers of mind and cognitive scientists as well as philosophers of language. Both perception and context have been concerns of philosophers of mind and cognitive scientists for years, but not much progress has been made. This book is definitely progress." — Eric Dietrich, State University of New York at Binghamton

Innehållsförteckning

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Chapter 1 An Introduction to Methodology: Explanation, Specification, and Two Paradigms for Theorizing about Language Chapter 2 Indexicals and Two Models for the Determination of Reference Chapter 3 The Figure-Ground Model: Varieties of Contexts Chapter 4 The Referential-Attributive Distinction in Definite Descriptions Chapter 5 Specific and Non-Specific Reference by Means of Indefinite Descriptions Chapter 6 Attention-Directing Models for the Basic Nature of Reference Chapter 7 Applications of the Models to Existence and Identity Contexts and to Opacity Afterword Notes Bibliography Name Index Subject Index