Ideo- and Auto-reflexive Quotation

Abstract

I focus on the two uses of quotation marks illustrated by The word ‘car’ expresses the idea “automobile,” in which the single quotation marks are used “auto-reflexively” to mark reference to the word quoted and the double quotation marks are used “ideo-reflexively” to mark reference to the idea expressed by the word quoted. I account for the difference between auto- and ideo-reflexive reference within my theory of meaning and indexical reference. Meaning consists in the expression of mental states, principally thoughts and their parts. Indexicals express a type of thought part that links to another mental state that determines its referent. Determinants can be other concepts (as in the anaphoric use of indexicals) or presentations (as in their deictic use). On my account, the idea “automobile” expresses the indexical concept expressed by the idea (a definite noun phrase used restrictively) linked to an introspective presentation of the idea expressed by the word in quotes. The word ‘car’ expresses the indexical concept expressed by the word linked to a perceptual presentation of the word in quotes. The quotation marks are optional punctuation marks, with no referents of their own. I observe that a word ‘w’ can also be used elliptically to mean “the word ‘w.’” I show that my deictic indexical theory avoids the defects of other accounts, including the demonstrative theory and Davidson’s theory.