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Philosophy General

Linguistic Content

New Essays on the History of Philosophy of Language

edited by Margaret Cameron & Robert J. Stainton

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Initial publish date
Apr 2015
Category
General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780198732495
    Publish Date
    Apr 2015
    List Price
    $135.00

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Description

Philosophy of language has a rich and varied history stretching back to the Ancient Greeks. Twelve specially written essays explore this richness, from Plato and Aristotle, through the Stoics, to medieval thinkers, both Islamic and Christian; from the Renaissance and the early modern period, all the way up to the twentieth Century. Among the many topics that arise across this 2500-year trajectory are metaphysical questions about linguistic content.

A first focal point of the volume is the issue of which broad ontological family linguistic contents belong to. Are linguistic contents mental ideas, physical particulars, abstract Forms, social practices, or something else again? And do different sorts of linguistic contents belong to different ontological categories-e.g., might it be that names stand for ideas, whereas logical terms stand for mental processes? The second focal point is the metaphysical grounding of linguistic content: that is, in virtue of what more basic facts do content facts obtain? Do words mean what they do because of natural resemblances? Because of causal relations? Because of arbitrary conventional usage? Or because of some combination of the above?

About the authors

Margaret Cameron's profile page

Robert J. Stainton is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Western Ontario.

Robert J. Stainton's profile page

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