Philosophy Of Language Research Articles

Metatheoretical linguistics: A philosopher’s guide

In this article, we summarise and critically evaluate Ryan Nefdt’s The Philosophy of Theoretical Linguistics: A Contemporary Outlook (2024). In this book, Nefdt brings the tools of philosophy to bear on contemporary linguistics, targeting perennial debates in syntax, semantics, pragmatics, phonology, and the evolution of language. In so doing, Nefdt sketches several tantalising paths for progress on these topics. Although some of Nefdt’s arguments are underdeveloped, this book serves as a worthwhile introduction to the philosophy of linguistics.

Chinese nouns are mass nouns: An information-theoretic computational proof

The mass–count distinction in Mandarin Chinese has been heatedly debated in linguistics. Previous research investigated the mass–count distinction primarily through qualitative methods. Our study applied mutual information and created three variation conditions to explore the relationship between Chinese nouns and the individuation function of classifiers. Furthermore, we examined the mass–count distinction by quantitatively analyzing 1,000 instances of Num–CL–N (numeral–classifier–noun) structures. The computational results indicate that the individuation function of classifiers is influenced by noun homogeneity. Moreover, we argue that Chinese nouns exhibit an inclination for homogeneity and the deep semantic processing of nouns is similar to classes or sets, providing evidence for the broad mass noun hypothesis and the collective-name hypothesis in the philosophy of language.

The Cognitive Order of Society: Radicalizing the Ontological Turn in Critical Theory

Investigating Habermas’s radicalization of the ontological turn in the philosophy of language that eventuated in his universal or formal pragmatics, this article finds that he has not pursued his avowed radicalization far enough. By contrast with his claim that due to its conceptual thrust his type of formal pragmatics is required over and above the empiricist approach to sharpen social analysis, it emerges that his three world-concepts are social-theoretically underspecified. The direction in which the proposed radicalization beyond Habermas is pursued is determined by the core assumption that the ontological properties at issue are of a cognitive nature. The central argument is therefore that the ontological turn in Critical Theory represented by Habermas needs to be cognitive-sociologically radicalized, the result of which is the introduction of the concept of the cognitive order of society. The unique ontological status of the cognitive order thus also needs explication. Finally, that the lack of this concept systematically leaves a conspicuous theoretical gap in contemporary Critical Theory is briefly indicated with reference to some recent key publications by Honneth and Forst and Günther.

Oppressive expression and the Czech and Slovak communities of Northern Ireland

Feminist philosophers of language have, in the last several decades, demonstrated the usefulness of employing a speech-act theoretical lens to understand how expression works to enact and reinforce oppression. Despite the growing influence of these approaches in the philosophy and political theory literature, however, their use in other disciplines remains severely limited. This is surprising, especially given the real potential of the speech-act approach to illuminate the mechanisms by which everyday acts contribute to large-scale oppressions. This paper takes up this call for interdisciplinarity, utilising a speech-act theory of oppression to better understand the real-life experiences of the under-researched Czech and Slovak communities of Northern Ireland. Using semi-structured interviews followed by thematic analysis, our study expands our understanding of oppressive speech by revealing a complex relationship between victims’ experiences and their understanding of wider societal oppression, exposing a channel via which victims can exercise agency by contesting attempts to reinforce their oppression. In so doing, the study also draws attention to a novel theoretical lens with which to understand experiences of harmful speech, one which is currently under-utilised by those outside of the philosophy/political theory disciplines.

Linguodidactic and interdisciplinary analysis of the concept of mediation as a terminological problem

Importance. CEFR Companion Volume 2018 pays special attention to the development of four modes of communication (including mediation) along with the formation of communicative competence. The purpose of this research is to conduct an interdisciplinary analysis of the term “mediation” as well as to clarify this term in the Russian language.Materials and Methods. Research methods include analysis and interpretation of literature. The research materials are literature review of foreign and Russian scientists in the field of jurisprudence and law, philosophy, philosophy of religion, social philosophy, sociology, management, psychology, reflexive psychology, cultural-historical psychology, conflictology, linguistics, pedagogy, translation and translation studies, as well as linguodidactics.Result and Discussion. The concept of “mediation” is analyzed in various fields. The terminology in Russian for three types of mediation activities is clarified according to the CEFR Companion Volume 2018.Conclusion. In most scientific fields, mediation is viewed as a procedure involving three parties: two parties in conflict and one party acting as a neutral intermediary (mediator). However, in methodology of teaching foreign languages, the emphasis shifts to the fact that any student while developing his/her communicative competence, mastering four modes of communication, including mediation, can independently act as a mediator with any interlocutor or group of interlocutors.

Let ‘Let n be such an x’ Be: A Reply to Meléndez Gutiérrez

AbstractI defend Haze’s argument against the Breckenridge-Magidor theory of instantial reasoning from an objection by Meléndez Gutiérrez. According to Breckenridge and Magidor, in reasoning like ‘Some x is mortal. Let n be such an x…’, the ‘n’ refers to a particular object but we cannot know which. This surprisingly defensible view poses an obvious threat to widespread notions in the philosophy of language. Haze argues that the theory leads to absurdity in cases like ‘Some x is unreferred-to by any expression. Let n be such an x…’ and should therefore be rejected. Meléndez Gutiérrez counters that Haze’s argument is just a case of Berry-like paradox and thus fails to refute the Breckenridge-Magidor theory. I argue that the analogy breaks down: unlike the intuitively compelling and widely believed well-ordering principle about positive integers, the principle drawn from Breckenridge and Magidor that plays a supposedly analogous role enjoys no such status, and is instead simply shown to be false by Haze’s reductio. The possibility of such a response is obscured when Meléndez Gutiérrez portrays Haze’s argument as involving a stipulation that ‘n’ is to refer to an unreferred-to object. On the contrary, Haze’s argument does not assume that expressions like ‘n’ work by means of referring at all, and simply lets stipulations like ‘Let n be such an x’ be themselves, without imposing a theory on them. Once this is clarified, we can see that Haze’s argument is unaffected by Meléndez Gutiérrez’s objection.

Philosophy of language probably won’t save democracy, but that’s no reason not to try

Philosophy of language probably won’t save democracy, but that’s no reason not to try

The name as a speech act

Drawing on the philosophy of language and anthroponymy, we aim to outline a theory of proper names, deliberately sidestepping conventional perspectives, which we have systematically addressed in previous instances. Articulating a distinctive viewpoint, grounded in the established connotations of the anthroponym (most notably its characterization as a rigid designator), we aim to demonstrate that names function as any linguistic sign, not deprived of any of its dimensions. We will also consider situations involving name changes, whether undertaken with the consent of the bearer or independently of their will. To the best of our current knowledge, the examination of proper names as speech acts has not received substantial attention in past or contemporary studies; hence, we will allocate appropriate attention to it. Furthermore, our investigation will encompass discussions on unconventional anthroponyms, addressing them as a key facet of our current research agenda.

The Grammar of the Ordinary

In this paper I explore what it means to take ordinary language as the raw material of philosophy. To do so, I contrast what I call ‘grammar’ or the grammatical approach, which is characteristic of L. Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and ‘ordinary language philosophy’ (OLP) as J.L. Austin understood it. I show that, while ‘standard’ OLP tends to focus on ‘historical situations’ understood as virtually plausible stagings of our actual uses of concepts, and thus contrasts ‘normal’ and ‘parasitic’ uses of language; the grammarian focuses on the logical possibilities of language through the invention of fictitious language-games. The latter thus extends the ‘ordinary’ up to the abnormal and the extraordinary and rather contrasts it with mere apparent uses that are no uses of language at all.

Home Language and Philosophers’ Language

This paper investigates whether Wittgenstein can be considered an ‘ordinary language philosopher’. A central role in his thinking is that of what may be called our ‘home language’ - the language we bring along in coming to do philosophy. The intelligibility of philosophers’ language depends on its relation to the home language. This is the central point of Philosophical Investigations § 116. Traditional philosophical ‘uses’ of a word like ‘knowledge’ have a problematic relation to our customary uses of the word. In consequence, traditional philosophers have sometimes lost the grip on how such words are actually used in human interaction.

Using the Ideal/Nonideal Distinction in Philosophy of Language (and Elsewhere)

ABSTRACT Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever (C&D) have recently argued that the ideal/non-ideal distinction is ‘useless’ in philosophy of language. This paper responds to C&D’s argument, develops an account of the distinction, and applies it to philosophy of language. Section 1 summarizes C&D’s argument against Charles Mills’s version of the distinction. Section 2 develops an account of the distinction that’s inspired by Mills’s work but that differs from what C&D take Mills’s view to be. Section 3 shows that, pace C&D, this distinction picks out interesting subsets of work in philosophy of language. We say that ideal theories adopt models of the social world that fail to recognize systemic oppression and are therefore systematically inaccurate. Nonideal theories correct these inaccuracies.

Beyond Legislative Intent

Abstract There is a widely held view that legislative intention determines the meaning of a statute. The focus of this article is meaning in the sense of full linguistic content, which may not be the same as legal content. Linguistic intentionalism appears to have its greatest appeal when a statute has a partly implied linguistic meaning. It seems natural to suppose that the part of the meaning that is implied by the explicit wording in the statute is determined by an intention of the legislature—roughly, what the legislature intended to imply. The purpose of this article is to present some new reasons to doubt linguistic intentionalism and to offer an alternative for a particular kind of implied statutory meaning that some philosophers of language call implicitures. Rather than legislative intention, the meaning of implicitures is metaphysically determined by intention-free pragmatic linguistic norms, the grasp of which is part of the language competence of ordinary law subjects. The use of these norms, in combination with certain facts about background social practices and other conventions, generates implicitures that may be inconsistent with actual communicative intentions. These intention-free pragmatic norms, and the implicitures they generate, are explanatorily prior to the fact—if there is such a fact—of what impliciture it is reasonable to infer that the enacting legislature (or the legislators collectively) intended. Reference to legislative linguistic intention (actual or reasonably imputed) is thus explanatorily inert.

Social contribution on payroll and exemption from food allowance

This article aims to explore the legal indeterminacy surrounding the possibility of free transit of credits between meal vouchers and food vouchers and its impact on the exemption of social contributions on payroll. Employing the Logical-Semantic Constructivism method and foundations from the philosophy of language, the article seeks to clarify whether this practice affects eligibility for exemption. Initially, the article underscores the importance of revisiting the interpretation given to the tax benefit, considering new business models and in light of changes in labor relations, such as the increase in remote work. Companies that offer meal and food vouchers are important partners for employers, facilitating the provision of food benefits to employees. A rigorous analysis of legal language is emphasized to ensure scientific accuracy. The legal norm is discussed from two perspectives: a broad sense (propositions derived from legal statements) and a strict sense (propositions structured in hypothetical-conditional judgments capable of regulating intersubjective conduct). It analyzes the norm that establishes the social contribution on payroll, identifying its five criteria (material, spatial, temporal, personal, and quantitative). The material criterion is defined as the provision of remuneration in exchange for work performed. The tax base is the total remuneration paid to employees. The article discusses the exemption of food assistance as provided by legislation (CLT and Law 8,212/91), which excludes the social security contribution on in natura food provided to workers. The legislation allows food assistance to be offered through vouchers, provided they are used exclusively for the purchase of food. Federal Decree No. 10,854/2021 is analyzed to explain the necessity of keeping funds in separate accounts and ensuring their exclusive use for food, prohibiting withdrawals or transfers to accounts not linked to the Worker’s Food Program (PAT). The article concludes that the free transfer of credits between meal and food vouchers does not affect the exemption of food assistance, as long as the funds are used exclusively for the purchase of in natura food. Subordinate legislation does not impose significant restrictions on this practice, and even if it did, it could not supersede higher normative provisions that grant the exemption. Thus, the arrangement between meal and food credits does not limit the exemption from social contributions on payroll.

Epistemology of Disagreement: Which Disagreement?

Abstract Far from considering the phenomenon of disagreement across the board, the peer debate in epistemology solely focuses on cases of disagreements that are at least assumed to be genuine. What counts as a genuine disagreement is most of the times kept on the level of a pre-theoretical intuition according to which the peers disagree insofar as they hold incompatible doxastic attitudes with respect to a proposition P (King, 2012). Yet, the pre-theoretical intuition yields the wrong verdict when the bone of contention is a proposition whose truth is relativized. In order to avoid these counter-intuitive results, the peer debate needs to replace the pre-theoretical intuition of genuine disagreement with a full-fledged account of it. In this essay I firstly put forth a possible candidate for the role coming from an ongoing discussion in philosophy of language. Then, I assess how well such an account fares in both an outright and a credal model of belief.

Morphology and Metaphilosophy: Goethe, Wittgenstein and Waismann

The paper explores how Wittgenstein and Waismann interpreted Goethe’s ideas from The Metamorphosis of Plants. These ideas laid the foundation for Wittgenstein’s concept of “family resemblance”, which Waismann also embraced in The Principles of Linguistic Philosophy. However, the paper argues that Wittgenstein’s and Waismann’s metaphilosophical implications evolved differently in their later works. Notably, it is Waismann, rather than Wittgenstein, who took these ideas to their extreme, concluding in How I See Philosophy that all forms of philosophical theorizing should be rejected. By contrast, Wittgenstein rejected only the kind of theorizing in philosophy which aims at offering monistic and reductionist explanations of key philosophical concepts.

Феноменология сегодня: исторические проблемы и современные тенденции. Возвращаясь к дискуссии 1988 года (материалы «круглого стола»)

In April 2024, a round table titled “Phenomenology Today: Historical Problems and Contemporary Trends. Returning to the 1988 Discussion” was held, dedicated to discussing current problems in phenomenological research in the context of the historical development of phenomenology in the 21st century. The round table was organized by the journal “Voprosy Filosofii”, the Center for Phenomeno­logical Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy of RSUH, as well as participants in the Russian Science Foundation project “World, Language, Reality: European and Russian Philosophy in Conceptual and Terminological Dimensions”. Leading phenomenologists, historians of philosophy, and epistemologists participated in the round table. The focus was on the materials of the discussion “Phenomeno­logy and Its Role in Contemporary Philosophy” (Voprosy filosofii, 1988, No. 12). The following topics were discussed: How can the past 36 years in the global and domestic phenomenological movement be assessed? How has the subject configur­ation of phenomenology as a field of study changed? What are the directions of contemporary phenomenological discussions, the specifics of the phenomenolo­gical method and the limits of phenomenological description. Can it be said that the phenomenological method is applied today in the humanities and natural sci­ences, and if so, how effective is it? What is happening today in phenomenology, and what are the current discussions? Phenomenology and analytic philosophy: prospects and possibilities for comparison. The role of phenomenology in the for­mation of epistemological and ontological traditions in Russian philosophy. What has changed in this field over 36 years? The core of the discussions, sparked by the questions posed, became the problem of the relationship between historical reality and the language of philosophy, as well as the understanding of the value of phenomenological strategies in education and scientific activities

The Formation of the Russian Philosophical Language in Its Institutional Aspect: Toward a Formulation of the Problem

The Formation of the Russian Philosophical Language in Its Institutional Aspect: Toward a Formulation of the Problem

Al-Mutanabbi's Genius - A Study in the Poetry Process

A number of Arab poets were well-known, and their poetry gained a presence in the memory of the Arab person, but the popularity that Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi and his poetry enjoyed was remarkable, as it filled the world and occupied people - according to the expression of Judge al-Jurjani - and his poetry remained the fairest melodies divided among poetry lovers, and the most process. The process of al-Mutanabbi's poetry is linked to his genius, which combined two consciousnesses: awareness of the truth of poetry, and awareness of the nature of the human soul, which are two different things. This is the research question and its knowledge gap, to which I did not find - in what I read - an answer. The answer to this question will not be achieved without a deep reading of the poetry of Abu al-Tabib through the transformations of the poetic meaning in the expression of the human self. Which reveals Al-Mutanabbi's awareness of human nature, and his unique ability in the aesthetic expression of that awareness, and this disclosure of this awareness will not be achieved except by employing the conquests of human knowledge in the philosophy of beauty, cognitive psychology, cognitive linguistics, and discourse analysis according to a descriptive and analytical methodology of the elements of the poetic phenomenon revealed in The end is about a well-defined pattern of Al-Mutanabbi's poetics in describing the human self, which fused idea and art with great brilliance.

Russian religious philosophy of language and linguistic oriented discourse of J. Lacan

Russian religious philosophy of language and linguistic oriented discourse of J. Lacan

Defending Russell’s Theory of Definite Descriptions Against a Strawsonian Attack

Although Russell’s theory of definite descriptions is highlyappreciated in the area of philosophy of language, it has faced some objections from different angles. One of the major objections is known as the objection arising from incomplete definite descriptions. According to this objection, a speaker by his/her utterance of a sentence containing an incomplete definite description often succeeds in saying something true despite the fact that such a sentence always expresses a false proposition. This particular objection against Russell’s theory arises because of an ignorance concerning the distinction between the meaning of a sentence and the assertion made by a speaker by using that sentence in a particular context. To address this distinction between meaning and assertion Scott Soames’ theory concerning the connection between meaning and assertion has been adopted. With the help of this theory, it has been shown that the problem arising from incomplete definite descriptions does not pose a genuine threat to Russell’s theory. Philosophy and Progress, Vol#73-74; No#1-2; Jan-Dec 2023 P 317-336