Index of philosophy of language articles
Encyclopedia
This is an index of articles in philosophy of language
Philosophy of language
Philosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
- A.P. MartinichA.P. MartinichAloysius P. Martinich is an analytic philosopher and is the Roy Allison Vaughan Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Professor History at University of Texas at Austin. His area of interest is the nature and practice of interpretation; history of modern philosophy; the philosophy of language and...
- AboutnessAboutnessAboutness is a term used in library and information science , linguistics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. In LIS, it is often considered synonymous with subject . In philosophy it has been often considered synonymous with intentionality, perhaps since John Searle .R. A...
- Absence paradoxAbsence paradoxThe absence paradox while named a paradox, is more precisely an informal fallacy and humorous misuse of language which results in the conclusion that "No one is ever present." The statement of the argument is some formulation of the following:...
- Adolph StöhrAdolph StöhrAdolph Stöhr was professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna. His lectures and publications covered subjects such as logic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, experimental psychology, psychology of perception, and psychology of association.- Published works :* Philosophische...
- Alexis KagameAlexis KagameAlexis Kagame was a Rwandan philosopher, linguist, historian, poet and Catholic priest. His main contributions were in the field of "ethnophilosophy" ....
- Alfred Jules Ayer
- Alphabet of human thoughtAlphabet of human thoughtThe alphabet of human thought is a concept originally proposed by Gottfried Leibniz that provides a universal way to represent and analyze ideas and relationships, no matter how complicated, by breaking down their component pieces...
- AmbiguityAmbiguityAmbiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity...
- Analytic-synthetic distinction
- AnaphoraAnaphora (linguistics)In linguistics, anaphora is an instance of an expression referring to another. Usually, an anaphoric expression is represented by a pro-form or some other kind of deictic--for instance, a pronoun referring to its antecedent...
- Andrea BonomìAndrea BonomìAndrea Bonomi is an Italian philosopher and logician. Born in Rome in 1940, he studied with Enzo Paci. After an initial interest in phenomenology , he decided to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to the study of analytic philosophy, particularly the philosophy of language...
- Applicative Universal GrammarApplicative Universal GrammarApplicative Universal Grammar, or AUG, is a universal semantic metalanguage intended for studying the semantic processes in particular languages....
- Archie J. BahmArchie J. BahmArchie John Bahm was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of New Mexico.-Biography:...
- Arda DenkelArda Denkel-Life and work:Arda Denkel was a Turkish philosopher. He studied at the University of Oxford and, under Peter Strawson, wrote his D. Phil...
- AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
- Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
- Association for Logic, Language and InformationAssociation for Logic, Language and InformationThe Association for Logic, Language and Information is an international, especially European, learned society administered from Nancy-Université in France...
- Avrum StrollAvrum StrollAvrum Stroll is a research professor at the University of California, San Diego. He is a distinguished philosopher and a noted scholar in the fields of epistemology, philosophy of language, and twentieth-century analytic philosophy.-Books:...
- Barry LoewerBarry LoewerBarry Loewer is a philosopher and Chairperson of the Rutgers University Department of Philosophy and director of the . He obtained his BA from Amherst College and his PhD from Stanford...
- Berlin Circle
- Bertrand RussellBertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
- Bob Hale (philosopher)Bob Hale (philosopher)Robert Hale FBA, FRSE is a British philosopher, who is well-known for his contributions to the development of the neo-Fregean philosophy of mathematics in collaboration with Crispin Wright, and for his works in modality and philosophy of language....
- Calculus ratiocinatorCalculus ratiocinatorThe Calculus Ratiocinator is a theoretical universal logical calculation framework, a concept described in the writings of Gottfried Leibniz, usually paired with his more frequently mentioned characteristica universalis, a universal conceptual language....
- Carl Gustav HempelCarl Gustav HempelCarl Gustav "Peter" Hempel was a philosopher of science and a major figure in 20th-century logical empiricism...
- Carnap-Ramsey sentencesCarnap-Ramsey sentencesIn philosophy, Ramsey sentences refer to an attempt by logical positivist philosopher Rudolf Carnap to reconstruct theoretical propositions such that they gained empirical content....
- CategorizationCategorizationCategorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories, usually for some specific purpose. Ideally, a category illuminates a relationship between the subjects and objects of knowledge...
- Category mistakeCategory mistakeA category mistake, or category error, is a semantic or ontological error in which "things of one kind are presented as if they belonged to another", or, alternatively, a property is ascribed to a thing that could not possibly have that property...
- Causal theory of referenceCausal theory of referenceA causal theory of reference is a theory of how terms acquire specific referents. Such theories have been used to describe many referring terms, particularly logical terms, proper names, and natural kind terms...
- César Chesneau DumarsaisCésar Chesneau DumarsaisCésar Chesneau, sieur Dumarsais or Du Marsais was a French philosophe and grammarian. He was a prominent figure in what became known as the Enlightenment, and contributed to Diderot’s Encyclopédie....
- Cheung Kam ChingCheung Kam ChingProfessor "Leo" Cheung Kam Ching is a philosopher in Hong Kong. He is a Professor of the Department of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University since 2008 and he was the Assistant Professor , Associate Professor and the Head of Department .During his secondary education, Cheung...
- Circular definitionCircular definitionA circular definition is one that uses the term being defined as a part of the definition or assumes a prior understanding of the term being defined. Either the audience must already know the meaning of the key term, or the definition is deficient in including the term to be defined in the...
- Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
- Cognitive synonymyCognitive synonymyCognitive synonymy is a property of words or terms distinguished from similarity of mental associations, connotations, emotive responses, and poetic value; it is the information that a word or term expresses such that it is synonymous with a different word's cognitive meaning...
- Colloquial languageColloquial languageColloquial language, especially in philosophy of language, is natural language which, among other properties, uses colloquialisms. In the field of logical atomism, meaning is evaluated differently than with more formal propositions.-See also:...
- Computational humorComputational humorComputational humor is a branch of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence which uses computers in humor research. It is not to be confused with computer humor ....
- ConceptConceptThe word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...
- Concept and objectConcept and objectIn the philosophy of language, the distinction between concept and object is attributable to the German philosopher Gottlob Frege.According to Frege, any sentence that expresses a singular thought consists of an expression that signifies an Object together with a predicate In the philosophy of...
- Conceptual metaphorConceptual metaphorIn cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another, for example, understanding quantity in terms of directionality . A conceptual domain can be any coherent organization of human experience...
- Context-sensitive grammarContext-sensitive grammarA context-sensitive grammar is a formal grammar in which the left-hand sides and right-hand sides of any production rules may be surrounded by a context of terminal and nonterminal symbols...
- Context principleContext principleIn the philosophy of language, the context principle is a form of semantic holism holding that a philosopher should "never ... ask for the meaning of a word in isolation, but only in the context of a proposition"...
- ContextualismContextualismContextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
- Contrast theory of meaningContrast theory of meaningThe Contrast theory of meaning states that any meaningful term must have a possible example and a possible counterexample.Ernest Gellner in Words and Things, p. 40: "terms derive their meaning from the fact that there are or could be things which fall under them and that there are others which...
- ContrastivismContrastivismContrastivism is an epistemological theory proposed by Jonathan Schaffer that suggests that knowledge attributions have a ternary structure of the form 'S knows that p rather than q'. This is in contrast to the traditional view whereby knowledge attributions have a binary structure of the form 'S...
- Cooperative principleCooperative principleIn social science generally and linguistics specifically, the cooperative principle describes how people interact with one another. As phrased by Paul Grice, who introduced it, it states, "Make your contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or...
- Cora DiamondCora DiamondCora Diamond is an American philosopher. She has worked on problems in analytic philosophy, the interpretation of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and moral philosophy. A moral vegetarian, she has also examined the rhetorical and philosophical nature of contemporary attitudes towards animal rights...
- CratylismCratylismCratylism is a philosophical theory based on the teachings of Cratylus also known as Kratylos. Vaguely exegetical, it holds that the fluid nature of ideas, words, and communications leaves them fundamentally baseless, and possibly unable to support logic and reason.-External links:*...
- Dagfinn FøllesdalDagfinn FøllesdalDagfinn Føllesdal is the Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, and professor emeritus at the University of Oslo....
- David EfirdDavid EfirdDavid Hampton Efird is an American philosopher, educated at Duke University , Princeton Theological Seminary , Edinburgh University , Oxford University . He is currently a lecturer in philosophy at the University of York, in York, England...
- David Kellogg LewisDavid Kellogg LewisDavid Kellogg Lewis was an American philosopher. Lewis taught briefly at UCLA and then at Princeton from 1970 until his death. He is also closely associated with Australia, whose philosophical community he visited almost annually for more than thirty years...
- De dicto and de reDe dicto and de reDe dicto and de re are two phrases used to mark important distinctions in intensional statements, associated with the intensional operators in many such statements. The distinctions are most recognized in philosophy of language and metaphysics....
- DefinitionDefinitionA definition is a passage that explains the meaning of a term , or a type of thing. The term to be defined is the definiendum. A term may have many different senses or meanings...
- DenotationDenotationThis word has distinct meanings in other fields: see denotation . For the opposite of Denotation see Connotation.*In logic, linguistics and semiotics, the denotation of a word or phrase is a part of its meaning; however, the part referred to varies by context:** In grammar and literary theory, the...
- Descriptivist theory of namesDescriptivist theory of namesDescriptivist theory of names is a view of the nature of the meaning and reference of proper names generally attributed to Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell...
- Direct reference theoryDirect reference theoryA direct reference theory is a theory of meaning that claims that the meaning of an expression lies in what it points out in the world. It stands in contrast to mediated reference theories.- John Stuart Mill :...
- Direction of fitDirection of fitThe technical term direction-of-fit is used to describe the distinctions that are offered by two related sets of opposing terms:* The more general set of mind-to-world vs. world-to-mind used by philosophers of mind, and* The narrower, more specific set, word-to-world The technical term...
- Discourse ethicsDiscourse ethicsDiscourse ethics, sometimes called argumentation ethics, refers to a type of argument that attempts to establish normative or ethical truths by examining the presuppositions of discourse.-Habermas and Apel:...
- Disquotational principleDisquotational principleThe disquotational principle is a philosophical theorem which holds that a rational speaker will accept "p" if and only if he or she believes p. The quotes indicate that the statement p is being treated as a sentence, and not as a proposition...
- Donald Davidson (philosopher)Donald Davidson (philosopher)Donald Herbert Davidson was an American philosopher born in Springfield, Massachusetts, who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at Stanford University, Rockefeller University, Princeton...
- Donkey pronounDonkey pronounA donkey pronoun is a pronoun that is bound in semantics but not syntax.Some writers prefer the term donkey anaphora, since it is the referential aspects and discourse or syntactic context that are of interest to researchers . The terms d-type or e-type pronoun are also used, mutually exclusively,...
- DramatismDramatismDramatism, introduced by rhetorician Kenneth Burke, made its way into the field of communication in the early 1950s as a method for understanding the social uses of language and how to encounter the social and symbolic world of a drama...
- Duns ScotusDuns ScotusBlessed John Duns Scotus, O.F.M. was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought....
- Empty nameEmpty nameIn the philosophy of language, an empty name is a proper name that has no referent.The problem of empty names is that empty names have a meaning that it seems they shouldn't have. The name "Pegasus" is empty; there is nothing to which it refers. Yet though there is no Pegasus, we know what the...
- Engineered languageEngineered languageEngineered languages are constructed languages devised to test or prove some hypotheses about how languages work or might work. There are at least three subcategories, philosophical languages , logical languages , and experimental languages...
- Enumerative definitionEnumerative definitionAn enumerative definition of a concept or term is a special type of extensional definition that gives an explicit and exhaustive listing of all the objects that fall under the concept or term in question...
- EpistemicismEpistemicismEpistemicism is a position about vagueness in the philosophy of language or metaphysics, according to which there are facts about the boundaries of a vague predicate which we cannot possibly discover...
- Ethics and LanguageEthics and LanguageEthics and Language is a 1944 book by C. L. Stevenson which was influential in furthering the metaethical view of emotivism first espoused by David Hume....
- Eugen Rosenstock-HuessyEugen Rosenstock-HuessyEugen Rosenstock-Huessy was a historian and social philosopher, whose work spanned the disciplines of history, theology, sociology, linguistics and beyond...
- European Summer School in Logic, Language and InformationEuropean Summer School in Logic, Language and InformationThe European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information is an annual academic conference organized by the European Association for Logic, Language and Information. The focus of study is the "interface between linguistics, logic and computation, with special emphasis on human linguistic and...
- ExemplificationExemplificationExemplification is a mode of symbolization characterized by the relation between a sample and what it refers to.- Description :Unlike ostension, which is the act of showing or pointing to a sample, exemplification is possession of a property plus reference to its label...
- Extensional definitionExtensional definitionAn extensional definition of a concept or term formulates its meaning by specifying its extension, that is, every object that falls under the definition of the concept or term in question....
- F. H. BradleyF. H. BradleyFrancis Herbert Bradley, OM, was a British idealist philosopher.- Life :Bradley was born at Clapham, Surrey, England . He was the child of Charles Bradley, an evangelical preacher, and Emma Linton, Charles's second wife. A. C. Bradley was his brother...
- Family resemblanceFamily resemblanceFamily resemblance is a philosophical idea made popular by Ludwig Wittgenstein, with the best known exposition being given in the posthumously published book Philosophical Investigations It has been suggested that Wittgenstein picked the idea and the term from Nietzsche, who had been using it,...
- Felicity conditionsFelicity conditionsIn J.L. Austin's formulation of Speech act theory, a performative utterance is neither true nor false, but can instead be deemed "felicitous" or "infelicitous" according to a set of conditions whose interpretation differs depending on whether the utterance in question is a declaration , a request ...
- Ferdinand EbnerFerdinand EbnerFerdinand Ebner , was an Austrian elementary school teacher and philosopher. Together with Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, he is considered one of the most outstanding representatives of dialogical thinking...
- Fictional beings and reference failureFictional beings and reference failureAccording to Bertrand Russell's theory of truth, there is only one actual world, and a statement's truth value depends on whether the statement obtains in the actual world. Continuing the tradition of Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell posited that a name picks out, or refers to, a real object in the...
- Form of life (philosophy)Form of life (philosophy)Form of life is a non-technical term used by Ludwig Wittgenstein and others in the analytic philosophy and philosophy of language traditions...
- Franz RosenzweigFranz RosenzweigFranz Rosenzweig was an influential Jewish theologian and philosopher.-Early life:Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany to a middle-class, minimally observant Jewish family...
- Frege's PuzzleFrege's PuzzleFrege's Puzzle is a puzzle about the semantics of proper names, although the title is also sometimes applied to a related puzzle about indexicals...
- Friedrich WaismannFriedrich WaismannFriedrich Waismann was an Austrian mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. He is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle and one of the key theorists in logical positivism.-Birth & Early Interest in Philosophy:...
- Function and ConceptFunction and Concept"On Function and Concept" is an article by Gottlob Frege, published in 1891. The article involves a clarification of his earlier distinction between concepts and objects....
- G. E. M. AnscombeG. E. M. AnscombeGertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe , better known as Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher from Ireland. A student of Ludwig Wittgenstein, she became an authority on his work and edited and translated many books drawn from his writings, above all his Philosophical Investigations...
- Gareth Evans (philosopher)Gareth Evans (philosopher)Gareth Evans was a British philosopher.-Life:Gareth Evans studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at University College, Oxford . His philosophy tutor was Peter Strawson...
- Genus–differentia definition
- George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
- Gilbert RyleGilbert RyleGilbert Ryle , was a British philosopher, a representative of the generation of British ordinary language philosophers that shared Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical problems, and is principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "the ghost in the...
- Gordon Park BakerGordon Park BakerGordon Park Baker was an American-English philosopher. His topics of interest included Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gottlob Frege, Friedrich Waismann, Bertrand Russell, the Vienna Circle, and René Descartes...
- Gottlob FregeGottlob FregeFriedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German mathematician, logician and philosopher. He is considered to be one of the founders of modern logic, and made major contributions to the foundations of mathematics. He is generally considered to be the father of analytic philosophy, for his writings on...
- GrammatologyGrammatologyGrammatology is a term coined by the linguist Ignace Gelb in 1952 to refer to the scientific study of writing systems or scripts. It includes the typology of scripts, the analysis of the structural properties of scripts, and the relationship between written and spoken language...
- Hans KampHans KampJohan Anthony Willem Kamp is a Dutch philosopher and linguist, responsible for introducing Discourse Representation Theory in 1981. Kamp received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA in 1968...
- Hector-Neri CastañedaHector-Neri CastañedaHéctor-Neri Castañeda was a Guatemalan philosopher and founder of the journal Noûs.Born in San Vicente, Zacapa, Guatemala, he emigrated to the United States in 1948 and studied under Wilfrid Sellars at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a B.A. in 1950 and M.A. in 1952. Castañeda...
- Henri BergsonHenri BergsonHenri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
- Ideal speech situationIdeal speech situationIn the earlier philosophy of Jürgen Habermas it is argued that an ideal speech situation is found within communication between individuals when their speech is governed by basic, but required and implied, rules...
- Illocutionary actIllocutionary actIllocutionary act is a term in linguistics introduced by John L. Austin in his investigation of the various aspects of speech acts. We may sum up Austin's theory of speech acts with the following example...
- ImplicatureImplicatureImplicature is a technical term in the pragmatics subfield of linguistics, coined by H. P. Grice, which refers to what is suggested in an utterance, even though neither expressed nor strictly implied by the utterance...
- Indeterminacy (philosophy)Indeterminacy (Philosophy)Indeterminacy, in philosophy, can refer both to common scientific and mathematical concepts of uncertainty and their implications and to another kind of indeterminacy deriving from the nature of definition or meaning...
- Indeterminacy of translationIndeterminacy of translationThe indeterminacy of translation is a thesis propounded by 20th century analytic philosopher W. V. Quine. The classic statement of this thesis can be found in his 1960 book Word and Object, which gathered together and refined much of Quine's previous work on subjects other than formal logic and set...
- IndexicalityIndexicalityIn linguistics and in philosophy of language, an indexical behavior or utterance points to some state of affairs. For example, I refers to whoever is speaking; now refers to the time at which that word is uttered; and here refers to the place of utterance...
- Indirect self-referenceIndirect self-referenceIndirect self-reference describes an object referring to itself indirectly.For example, define the function f such that f = "x". Any function passed as an argument to f is invoked with itself as an argument, and thus in any use of that argument is indirectly referring to itself.This example is...
- Inferential role semanticsInferential role semanticsInferential role semantics is an approach to the theory of meaning that identifies the meaning of an expression with its relationship to other expressions, typically its inferential relations with other expressions. Proponents include Robert Brandom, Gilbert Harman, Paul Horwich, and Ned Block...
- Ingeborg BachmannIngeborg BachmannIngeborg Bachmann was an Austrian poet and author.-Biography:Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of a headmaster. She studied philosophy, psychology, German philology, and law at the universities of Innsbruck, Graz, and Vienna...
- IntensionIntensionIn linguistics, logic, philosophy, and other fields, an intension is any property or quality connoted by a word, phrase or other symbol. In the case of a word, it is often implied by the word's definition...
- Intensional definitionIntensional definitionIn logic and mathematics, an intensional definition gives the meaning of a term by specifying all the properties required to come to that definition, that is, the necessary and sufficient conditions for belonging to the set being defined....
- Internalism and externalismInternalism and externalismInternalism and externalism are two opposing ways of explaining various subjects in several areas of philosophy. These include human motivation, knowledge, justification, meaning and truth. The distinction arises in many areas of debate with similar but distinct meanings...
- Interpretation (logic)Interpretation (logic)An interpretation is an assignment of meaning to the symbols of a formal language. Many formal languages used in mathematics, logic, and theoretical computer science are defined in solely syntactic terms, and as such do not have any meaning until they are given some interpretation...
- J. L. AustinJ. L. AustinJohn Langshaw Austin was a British philosopher of language, born in Lancaster and educated at Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford University. Austin is widely associated with the concept of the speech act and the idea that speech is itself a form of action...
- Jacques BouveresseJacques BouveresseJacques Bouveresse is a philosopher who has written on subjects including Ludwig Wittgenstein, Robert Musil, Karl Kraus, philosophy of science, epistemology, philosophy of mathematics and analytical philosophy...
- James F. ConantJames F. ConantJames Ferguson Conant is an American philosopher who has written extensively on topics in philosophy of language, ethics, and metaphilosophy. He is perhaps best known for his writings on Wittgenstein, and his association with the New Wittgenstein school of Wittgenstein interpretation. James Conant...
- Jody AzzouniJody AzzouniJody Azzouni is an American philosopher, short fiction writer, and poet. He currently is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University.-Education:...
- John EtchemendyJohn EtchemendyJohn W. Etchemendy and of Basque descent is Stanford University's twelfth and current Provost. He succeeded John L. Hennessy to the post on September 1, 2000....
- John McDowellJohn McDowellJohn Henry McDowell is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford and now University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written extensively on metaphysics, epistemology, ancient philosophy, and meta-ethics, McDowell's most influential work...
- Jonathan Bennett (philosopher)Jonathan Bennett (philosopher)Jonathan Francis Bennett is a British philosopher of language and metaphysics, and a historian of early modern philosophy.Born in Greymouth, New Zealand, Bennett was educated at the University of Oxford. He has taught at the University of Cambridge , Simon Fraser University , the University of...
- Journal of Logic, Language and InformationJournal of Logic, Language and InformationThe Journal of Logic, Language and Information is the official journal of the European Association for Logic, Language and Information. It provides a forum for publication of research in "natural, formal, and programming languages"....
- Karl-Otto ApelKarl-Otto ApelKarl-Otto Apel is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus at the University of Frankfurt am Main. Apel worked in ethics, the philosophy of language and human sciences. He wrote extensively in these fields, publishing mostly in German...
- Katarzyna JaszczoltKatarzyna JaszczoltKatarzyna Jaszczolt , D.Phil. , PhD , is Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy of Language at the Department of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Linguistics at Newnham College, Cambridge....
- Keith DonnellanKeith DonnellanKeith Donnellan is a contemporary philosopher and Professor Emeritus of the UCLA department of Philosophy. He has made important contributions to the philosophy of language, most notably to the analysis of proper names and definite descriptions...
- Kent BachKent BachKent Bach is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University. His primary areas of research include the philosophy of language, linguistics and epistemology...
- Kit FineKit FineKit Fine is Silver Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at New York University. He previously taught for several years at UCLA...
- Language-gameLanguage-gameA language-game is a philosophical concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein, referring to simple examples of language use and the actions into which the language is woven.- Description :...
- Language and thoughtLanguage and thoughtA variety of different authors, theories and fields purport influences between language and thought.Many point out the seemingly common-sense realization that upon introspection we seem to think in the language we speak...
- Language of thoughtLanguage of thoughtIn philosophy of mind, the language of thought hypothesis put forward by American philosopher Jerry Fodor describes thoughts as represented in a "language" that allows complex thoughts to be built up by combining simpler thoughts in various ways...
- Language, Truth, and LogicLanguage, Truth, and LogicLanguage, Truth, and Logic is a work of philosophy by Alfred Jules Ayer, published in 1936 when Ayer was 26...
- Latitudinarianism (philosophy)Latitudinarianism (philosophy)Latitudinarianism, in at least one area of contemporary philosophy, is a position concerning de dicto and de re attitudes...
- Lexical definitionLexical definitionThe lexical definition of a term, also known as the dictionary definition, is the meaning of the term in common usage. As its other name implies, this is the sort of definition one is likely to find in the dictionary...
- Lexis (Aristotle)Lexis (Aristotle)In philosophical discourse, lexis refers to a complete group of words in a language, vocabulary, the total set of all words in a language, and all words that have meaning or a function in grammar.- Lexis according to Plato :...
- Linguistic determinismLinguistic determinismLinguistic determinism is the idea that language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought. Determinism itself refers to the viewpoint that all events are caused by previous events, and linguistic determinism can be used broadly to refer to a number of specific views.For...
- Linguistic relativityLinguistic relativityThe principle of linguistic relativity holds that the structure of a language affects the ways in which its speakers are able to conceptualize their world, i.e. their world view...
- Linguistic turnLinguistic turnThe linguistic turn was a major development in Western philosophy during the 20th century, the most important characteristic of which is the focusing of philosophy and the other humanities primarily on the relationship between philosophy and language....
- Linguistics and PhilosophyLinguistics and PhilosophyLinguistics and Philosophy is a peer reviewed journal addressing "structure and meaning in natural language". This journal, along with Studies in Language, is a continuation of the journal Foundations of Language ....
- List of philosophers of language
- Logical atomismLogical atomismLogical atomism is a philosophical belief that originated in the early 20th century with the development of analytic philosophy. Its principal exponents were the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, the early work of his Austrian-born pupil and colleague Ludwig Wittgenstein, and his German...
- Logical formLogical formIn logic, the logical form of a sentence or set of sentences is the form obtained by abstracting from the subject matter of its content terms or by regarding the content terms as mere placeholders or blanks on a form...
- Logical positivismLogical positivismLogical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
- Ludwig WittgensteinLudwig WittgensteinLudwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
- Marilyn FryeMarilyn FryeMarilyn Frye is a philosophy professor and feminist theorist. She earned her Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1969 and has taught feminist philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of language at Michigan State University since 1974...
- Martian scientistMartian scientistA Martian scientist or Martian researcher is a hypothetical Martian frequently used in thought experiments as an outside observer of conditions on Earth...
- Max BlackMax BlackMax Black was a British-American philosopher, who was a leading influential figure in analytic philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century. He made contributions to the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mathematics and science, and the philosophy of art, also publishing studies...
- Meaning (linguistics)Meaning (linguistics)In linguistics, meaning is what is expressed by the writer or speaker, and what is conveyed to the reader or listener, provided that they talk about the same thing . In other words if the object and the name of the object and the concepts in their head are the same...
- Meaning (non-linguistic)Meaning (non-linguistic)A non-linguistic meaning is an actual or possible derivation from sentience, which is not associated with signs that have any original or primary intent of communication...
- Meaning (philosophy of language)
- Meaning (semiotics)Meaning (semiotics)In semiotics, the meaning of a sign is its place in a sign relation, in other words, the set of roles that it occupies within a given sign relation. This statement holds whether sign is taken to mean a sign type or a sign token...
- Mediated reference theoryMediated reference theoryThe mediated reference theory is a semantic theory that posits that words refer to something in the external world, but insists that there is more to the meaning of a name than simply the object to which it refers. It thus stands opposed to the theory of direct reference. Its most famous advocate...
- Meinong's jungleMeinong's jungleMeinong's jungle is the name given to the repository of non-existent entities in the ontology of Alexius Meinong.Meinong, an Austrian philosopher active at the turn of the 20th century, believed that since non-existent things could apparently be referred to, they must have some sort of being, which...
- Mental representationMental representationA representation, in philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, is a hypothetical internal cognitive symbol that represents external reality, or else a mental process that makes use of such a symbol; "a formal system for making explicit certain entities or types...
- Mental spaceMental spaceThe Mental space is a theoretic construct proposed by Gilles Fauconnier and Armen Khederlarian corresponding to possible worlds in Philosophy. The main difference between a mental space and a possible world is that a mental space does not contain a faithful representation of reality, but an...
- MetalanguageMetalanguageBroadly, any metalanguage is language or symbols used when language itself is being discussed or examined. In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about statements in another language...
- Metaphor in philosophyMetaphor in philosophyMetaphor, the description of one thing as something else, has become of interest in recent decades to both analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, but for different reasons.- Metaphor in analytic philosophy :...
- Michael DevittMichael DevittMichael Devitt is an Australian philosopher currently teaching at the City University of New York in New York City. His primary interests include philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, metaphysics and epistemology...
- Michael DummettMichael DummettSir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett FBA D.Litt is a British philosopher. He was, until 1992, Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford...
- Modal propertyModal propertyA modal property is a property representing possession of the qualities required to do something or get something done. It is a base concept, one of the base concepts mentioned as base types in the WordNet ontology of semantics. It is not a mental property. It is not a physical property....
- ModistaeModistaeThe Modistae were the members of a school of grammarian philosophy known as Modism, active in northern France, Germany, Britain and Denmark in the 13th and 14th centuries...
- Modularity of mindModularity of mindModularity of mind is the notion that a mind may, at least in part, be composed of separate innate structures which have established evolutionarily developed functional purposes...
- Moritz SchlickMoritz SchlickFriedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle.-Early life and works:...
- Mumbo Jumbo (phrase)Mumbo Jumbo (phrase)Mumbo jumbo, or mumbo-jumbo, is an English phrase or expression that denotes a confusing or meaningless subject. It is often used as humorous expression of criticism of middle-management and civil service non-speak, and of belief in something considered non-existent by the speaker , or the rituals...
- Naming and NecessityNaming and NecessityNaming and Necessity is a book by the philosopher Saul Kripke that was first published in 1980 and deals with the debates of proper nouns in the philosophy of language. The book is based on a transcript of three lectures given at Princeton University in 1970...
- Nelson GoodmanNelson GoodmanHenry Nelson Goodman was an American philosopher, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism and aesthetics.-Career:...
- New FoundationsNew FoundationsIn mathematical logic, New Foundations is an axiomatic set theory, conceived by Willard Van Orman Quine as a simplification of the theory of types of Principia Mathematica. Quine first proposed NF in a 1937 article titled "New Foundations for Mathematical Logic"; hence the name...
- Nino CocchiarellaNino CocchiarellaNino Cocchiarella , Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Indiana University, is best known for his work in formal logic and ontology....
- Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
- NomenclatureNomenclatureNomenclature is a term that applies to either a list of names or terms, or to the system of principles, procedures and terms related to naming - which is the assigning of a word or phrase to a particular object or property...
- NominalismNominalismNominalism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist. Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominalism...
- Non-rigid designator
- NonsenseNonsenseNonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous...
- Norm (philosophy)Norm (philosophy)Norms are concepts of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply “ought-to” types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide “is” types of statements and assertions...
- Object languageObject languageAn object language is a language which is the "object" of study in various fields including logic, linguistics, mathematics and theoretical computer science. The language being used to talk about an object language is called a metalanguage...
- On DenotingOn Denoting"On Denoting", written by Bertrand Russell, is one of the most significant and influential philosophical essays of the 20th century. It was published in the philosophy journal Mind in 1905; then reprinted, in both a special 2005 anniversary issue of the same journal and in Russell's Logic and...
- Ontological commitmentOntological commitmentIn the philosophy of language and metaphysics, an ontological commitment is said to be necessary in order to make a proposition in which the existence of one thing is presupposed or implied by asserting the existence of another. We are “committed” to the existence of the second thing, even though...
- Operational definitionOperational definitionAn operational definition defines something in terms of the specific process or set of validation tests used to determine its presence and quantity. That is, one defines something in terms of the operations that count as measuring it. The term was coined by Percy Williams Bridgman and is a part of...
- Ordinary language
- Ordinary language philosophyOrdinary language philosophyOrdinary language philosophy is a philosophical school that approaches traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting what words actually mean in everyday use....
- Ostensive definitionOstensive definitionAn ostensive definition conveys the meaning of a term by pointing out examples. This type of definition is often used where the term is difficult to define verbally, either because the words will not be understood or because of the nature of the term...
- Otto NeurathOtto NeurathOtto Neurath was an Austrian philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist...
- P. F. StrawsonP. F. StrawsonSir Peter Frederick Strawson FBA was an English philosopher. He was the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford from 1968 to 1987. Before that he was appointed as a college lecturer at University College, Oxford in 1947 and became a tutorial fellow the...
- ParalanguageParalanguageParalanguage refers to the non-verbal elements of communication used to modify meaning and convey emotion. Paralanguage may be expressed consciously or unconsciously, and it includes the pitch, volume, and, in some cases, intonation of speech. Sometimes the definition is restricted to...
- Paul BoghossianPaul BoghossianPaul Boghossian is professor of philosophy at New York University, where he held the chair for ten years . His research interests include epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language....
- Paul GricePaul GriceHerbert Paul Grice , usually publishing under the name H. P. Grice, H...
- Performative contradictionPerformative contradictionA performative contradiction arises when the propositional content of a statement contradicts the presuppositions of asserting it. An example of a performative contradiction is the statement "this statement can't be asserted" because the very act of asserting it presupposes it can be...
- Performative textPerformative textIn the philosophy of language, the notion of performance conceptualizes what a spoken or written text can bring about in human interactions.-Historical Development:...
- Performative utterancePerformative utteranceThe notion of performative utterances was introduced by language philosopher J. L. Austin. According to his original conception, it is a sentence which does something in the world rather than describing something about it...
- Persuasive definitionPersuasive definitionA persuasive definition is a form of definition which purports to describe the 'true' or 'commonly accepted' meaning of a term, while in reality stipulating an uncommon or altered use, usually to support an argument for some view, or to create or alter rights, duties or crimes.The terms thus...
- Peter AbelardPeter AbelardPeter Abelard was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. The story of his affair with and love for Héloïse has become legendary...
- Peter MillicanPeter MillicanPeter Millican is Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom. His primary interests include the philosophy of David Hume, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, and epistemology. Millican is particularly well known for his work on David Hume, and...
- Philosophical interpretation of classical physicsPhilosophical interpretation of classical physicsClassical Newtonian physics has, formally, been replaced by quantum mechanics on the small scale and relativity on the large scale. Because most humans continue to think in terms of the kind of events we perceive in the human scale of daily life, it became necessary to provide a new philosophical...
- Philosophical InvestigationsPhilosophical InvestigationsPhilosophical Investigations is, along with the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, one of the most influential works by the 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein...
- Philosophy and literaturePhilosophy and literaturePhilosophy and literature is the literary treatment of philosophers and philosophical themes, and the philosophical treatment of issues raised by literature.-The philosophy of literature:...
- Philosophy of languagePhilosophy of languagePhilosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
- Pirmin Stekeler-WeithoferPirmin Stekeler-WeithoferPirmin Stekeler-Weithofer is a German philosopher and professor of theoretical philosophy at the university of Leipzig. He was the president of the international Ludwig Wittgenstein society and is now a vice-president of this institution.- Philosophy :The philosopher studied mathematics and...
- Plato's ProblemPlato's ProblemPlato's problem is the term given by Noam Chomsky to the gap between knowledge and experience. It presents the question of how we account for our knowledge when environmental conditions seem to be an insufficient source of information. It is used in linguistics to refer to the "argument from...
- Port-Royal GrammarPort-Royal GrammarThe Port-Royal Grammar was a pioneering work in the philosophy of language...
- PragmaticsPragmaticsPragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
- Precising definitionPrecising definitionA precising definition is a definition that extends the lexical definition of a term for a specific purpose by including additional criteria that narrow down the set of things meeting the definition....
- Principle of charityPrinciple of charityIn philosophy and rhetoric, the principle of charity requires interpreting a speaker's statements to be rational and, in the case of any argument, considering its best, strongest possible interpretation...
- Principle of compositionalityPrinciple of compositionalityIn mathematics, semantics, and philosophy of language, the Principle of Compositionality is the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its constituent expressions and the rules used to combine them. This principle is also called Frege's Principle,...
- Private language argumentPrivate language argumentThe private language argument is a philosophical argument introduced by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his later work, especially in the Philosophical Investigations. The argument was central to philosophical discussion in the second half of the 20th century, and continues to arouse interest...
- Proper name (philosophy)
- PropositionPropositionIn logic and philosophy, the term proposition refers to either the "content" or "meaning" of a meaningful declarative sentence or the pattern of symbols, marks, or sounds that make up a meaningful declarative sentence...
- PsychologismPsychologismPsychologism is a generic type of position in philosophy according to which psychology plays a central role in grounding or explaining some other, non-psychological type of fact or law...
- QuotationQuotationA quotation or quote is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is indicated by quotation marks.A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any...
- Radical translationRadical translationRadical translation is a term invented by American philosopher W. V. O. Quine to describe the situation in which a linguist is attempting to translate a completely unknown language, which is unrelated to his own, and is therefore forced to rely solely on the observed behavior of its speakers in...
- Rational reconstructionRational reconstructionRational reconstruction is a philosophical term with several distinct meanings. It is found in the work of Jürgen Habermas and Imre Lakatos.- Habermas :...
- Redundancy theory of truthRedundancy theory of truthAccording to the redundancy theory of truth, or the disquotational theory of truth, asserting that a statement is true is completely equivalent to asserting the statement itself. For example, asserting the sentence " 'Snow is white' is true" is equivalent to asserting the sentence "Snow is...
- ReferenceReferenceReference is derived from Middle English referren, from Middle French rèférer, from Latin referre, "to carry back", formed from the prefix re- and ferre, "to bear"...
- Relevance theoryRelevance theoryRelevance theory is a proposal by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson that seeks to explain the second method of communication: one that takes into account implicit inferences...
- Rhetoric of social intervention modelRhetoric of social intervention modelThe Rhetoric of Social Intervention model is a systemic communication theory of how human beings symbolically constitute, maintain, and change social systems . The RSI model was developed in the writings of communication theorist William R. Brown...
- Richard von Mises
- Rigid designatorRigid designatorIn modal logic and the philosophy of language, a term is said to be a rigid designator when it designates the same thing in all possible worlds in which that thing exists and does not designate anything else in those possible worlds in which that thing does not exist...
- Robert Brandom
- Robert Maximilian de GaynesfordRobert Maximilian de GaynesfordMaximilian de Gaynesford is an English philosopher. He was educated at Ampleforth College and Balliol College, Oxford , after which he spent several years studying Theology, before turning to Philosophy in 1993. Before receiving his doctorate, he was elected Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at...
- Robert StalnakerRobert StalnakerRobert C. Stalnaker is Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2007, he delivered the John Locke Lectures at Oxford University on the topic of Our Knowledge of the Internal World...
- Round square copulaRound square copulaThe "Round square copula" is a common example of the Dual Copula Strategy used in reference to the problem of nonexistent objects as well as their relation to problems in modern Philosophy of language...
- Rudolf CarnapRudolf CarnapRudolf Carnap was an influential German-born philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism....
- S. Morris EngelS. Morris EngelS. Morris Engel is an author, philosopher, and linguist. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1959, writing on "The philosophy of language in Hobbes and Locke"...
- Saul KripkeSaul KripkeSaul Aaron Kripke is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center...
- Scalar implicatureScalar implicatureIn pragmatics, scalar implicature is a conversational inference that attributes an implicit meaning beyond the explicit or literal meaning of an utterance, and which suggests that the utterer had a reason for not using a more informative or stronger term on the same scale...
- Scientific essentialismScientific essentialismScientific essentialism, a view espoused by Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam, maintains that there exist essential properties that objects possess necessarily. In other words, having such and such essential properties is a necessary condition for membership in a given natural kind...
- Sebastian ShaumyanSebastian ShaumyanSebastian Konstantinovich Shaumyan was a Soviet-Armenian and American theoretician of linguistics and an outspoken adherent of structuralist analysis.-Biography:...
- Secondary referenceSecondary referenceSecondary reference points to the representation as a necessary part in granting a meaning to a sentence. In this approach, words that don’t contribute to the representation are void; they can only provide a figurative expression. Examples of phrases which lack a secondary reference are 'a black...
- Self-referenceSelf-referenceSelf-reference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence or formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some encoding...
- Semantic externalismSemantic externalismIn the philosophy of language, semantic externalism is the view that the meaning of a term is determined, in whole or in part, by factors external to the speaker. According to an externalist position, one can claim without contradiction that two speakers could be in exactly the same brain state at...
- Semantic holismSemantic holismSemantic holism is a doctrine in the philosophy of language to the effect that a certain part of language, be it a term or a complete sentence, can only be understood through its relations to a larger segment of language. There is substantial controversy, however, as to exactly what the larger...
- SemanticsSemanticsSemantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
- SemeioticSemeioticSemeiotic is a spelling variant of a word used by Charles Sanders Peirce, likewise as "Semiotic," "Semiotics", and "Semeotic", to refer to his philosophical logic, which he cast as the study of signs, or semiotic. Some, not all, Peircean scholars have used "semeiotic" to refer to distinctly...
- SemioticsSemioticsSemiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
- Sense and referenceSense and referenceSinn and bedeutung are usually translated, respectively, as sense and reference. Two different aspects of some terms' meanings, a term's reference is the object that the term refers to, while the term's sense is the way that the term refers to that object.Sinn and bedeutung were introduced by...
- Sense and Sensibilia (Austin)
- Shabda
- SignSign (semiotics)A sign is understood as a discrete unit of meaning in semiotics. It is defined as "something that stands for something, to someone in some capacity" It includes words, images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds – essentially all of the ways in which information can be...
- Singular termSingular termThere is no really adequate definition of singular term. Here are some definitions proposed by different writers:# A term that tells us which individual is being talked about....
- Slingshot argumentSlingshot argumentIn logic, a slingshot argument is one of a group of arguments claiming to show that all true sentences stand for the same thing.This type of argument was dubbed the "slingshot" by philosophers Jon Barwise and John Perry due to its disarming simplicity. Versions of the slingshot argument have been...
- Social semioticsSocial semioticsSocial semiotics is a branch of the field of semiotics which investigates human signifying practices in specific social and cultural circumstances, and which tries to explain meaning-making as a social practice. Semiotics, as originally defined by Ferdinand de Saussure, is "the science of the life...
- Speech actSpeech actSpeech Act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to John L. Austin's doctrine of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts...
- Sphota
- Stanley CavellStanley CavellStanley Louis Cavell is an American philosopher. He is the Walter M. Cabot Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University.-Life:...
- Statement (logic)Statement (logic)In logic a statement is either a meaningful declarative sentence that is either true or false, or what is asserted or made by the use of a declarative sentence...
- Stipulative definitionStipulative definitionA stipulative definition is a type of definition in which a new or currently-existing term is given a specific meaning for the purposes of argument or discussion in a given context. When the term already exists, this definition may, but does not necessarily, contradict the dictionary definition of...
- StructuralismStructuralismStructuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
- Supposition theorySupposition theorySupposition theory was a branch of medieval logic that was probably aimed at giving accounts of issues similar to modern accounts of reference, plurality, tense, and modality, from within an Aristotelian context. Philosophers such as John Buridan, William of Ockham, William of Sherwood, Walter...
- Susan StebbingSusan StebbingL. Susan Stebbing was a British philosopher. She belonged to the 1930s generation of analytic philosophy, and was a founder in 1933 of the journal Analysis.-Biography:...
- SwampmanSwampmanSwampman is the subject of a philosophical thought experiment introduced by Donald Davidson, in his 1987 paper "Knowing One's Own Mind". The experiment runs as follows:...
- SymbiosismSymbiosismSymbiosism is a Darwinian theory of language that recognises language to be an organism residing in the human brain. Language is a memetic life form. By the Leiden School definition, memes are meanings, i.e. isofunctional neuroanatomical constructs corresponding to signs in the sense of Ferdinand...
- SymbolSymbolA symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
- Symbol groundingSymbol groundingThe Symbol Grounding Problem is related to the problem of how words get their meanings, and hence to the problem of what meaning itself really is. The problem of meaning is in turn related to the problem of consciousness, or how it is that mental states are meaningful...
- SyntaxSyntaxIn linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
- The Naturalization of IntentionalityThe Naturalization of Intentionality-Naturalization of Intentionality:Naturalization of Intentionality - according to Franz Brentano, intentionality refers to the “aboutness of mental states that cannot be a physical relation between a mental state and what is about because in a physical relation each of the relation must exist...
- Theoretical definitionTheoretical definitionA theoretical definition gives the meaning of a word in terms of the theories of a specific discipline. This type of definition assumes both knowledge and acceptance of the theories that it depends on. To theoretically define is to create a hypothetical construct...
- Theory of descriptionsTheory of descriptionsThe theory of descriptions is the philosopher Bertrand Russell's most significant contribution to the philosophy of language. It is also known as Russell's Theory of Descriptions...
- Þorsteinn GylfasonÞorsteinn GylfasonÞorsteinn Gylfason was an Icelandic philosopher, translator, musician, poet, art enthusiast and intellectual. Þorsteinn was born and raised in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. His parents were Guðrún Vilmundardóttir and Gylfi Þ. Gíslason, a university professor and government minister...
- Tractatus Logico-PhilosophicusTractatus Logico-PhilosophicusThe Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book-length philosophical work published by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his lifetime. It was an ambitious project: to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science...
- Transparency (linguistic)Transparency (linguistic)Linguistic transparency is a phrase which is used in multiple, overlapping subjects in the fields of linguistics and the philosophy of language...
- True nameTrue nameA true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophical and grammatical study as well as various traditions of magic,...
- Truth-conditional semanticsTruth-conditional semanticsTruth-conditional semantics is an approach to semantics of natural language that sees the meaning of assertions as being the same as, or reducible to, their truth conditions...
- Truth-value linkTruth-value linkThe principle of truth-value links is a concept in metaphysics discussed in debates between philosophical realism and anti-realism. Philosophers who appeal to truth-value links in order to explain how individuals can come to understand parts of the world that are apparently cognitively inaccessible...
- TruthbearerTruthbearerTruth-bearer is a term used to designate entities that are either true or false and nothing else. The thesis that some things are true while others are false raises the question of the nature of these things. Since there is divergence of opinion on the matter, the term truthbearer is used to be...
- Two Dogmas of EmpiricismTwo Dogmas of EmpiricismW. V. Quine's paper Two Dogmas of Empiricism, published in 1951, is one of the most celebrated papers of twentieth century philosophy in the analytic tradition. According to Harvard professor of philosophy Peter Godfrey-Smith, this "paper [is] sometimes regarded as the most important in all of...
- Type physicalismType physicalismType physicalism is a physicalist theory, in philosophy of mind. It asserts that mental events can be grouped into types, and can then be correlated with types of physical events in the brain...
- Universal grammarUniversal grammarUniversal grammar is a theory in linguistics that suggests that there are properties that all possible natural human languages have.Usually credited to Noam Chomsky, the theory suggests that some rules of grammar are hard-wired into the brain, and manifest themselves without being taught...
- Universal languageUniversal languageUniversal language may refer to a hypothetical or historical language spoken and understood by all or most of the world's population. In some circles, it is a language said to be understood by all living things, beings, and objects alike. It may be the ideal of an international auxiliary language...
- Universal pragmaticsUniversal pragmaticsUniversal pragmatics, more recently placed under the heading of formal pragmatics, is the philosophical study of the necessary conditions for reaching an understanding through communication...
- Use–mention distinction
- VaguenessVaguenessThe term vagueness denotes a property of concepts . A concept is vague:* if the concept's extension is unclear;* if there are objects which one cannot say with certainty whether belong to a group of objects which are identified with this concept or which exhibit characteristics that have this...
- Verification theoryVerification theoryThe verification theory is a philosophical theory proposed by the logical positivists of the Vienna Circle. A simplified form of the theory states that a proposition's meaning is determined by the method through which it is empirically verified. In other words, if something cannot be empirically...
- Verificationism
- Vienna CircleVienna CircleThe Vienna Circle was an association of philosophers gathered around the University of Vienna in 1922, chaired by Moritz Schlick, also known as the Ernst Mach Society in honour of Ernst Mach...
- Virgil AldrichVirgil AldrichVirgil Charles Aldrich, , was an American philosopher of art, language, and religion.-Early life and education:...
- Walter BenjaminWalter BenjaminWalter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
- Willard Van Orman QuineWillard Van Orman QuineWillard Van Orman Quine was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition...
- William AlstonWilliam AlstonWilliam Payne Alston was an American philosopher. He made influential contributions to the philosophy of language, epistemology and Christian philosophy. He earned his Ph.D...
- William C. DowlingWilliam C. DowlingWilliam C. Dowling is University Distinguished Professor of English and American Literature at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, specializing in 18th-century English literature, literature of the early American Republic, and Literary Theory.-Biography:Born in Warner, New Hampshire,...
- William CrathornWilliam CrathornWilliam Carthorn was an English Dominican philosopher, from Oxford. He was a philosopher who immediately followed in the intellectual tradition of William of Ockham and worked to strengthen his philosophical works. Carthorn created unique theories in the philosophy of language and psychology, as...
- Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language
- Word and ObjectWord and ObjectWord and Object is a 1960 book of epistemology by Willard Van Orman Quine. In it, Quine develops his thesis of the Indeterminacy of translation....
- Word senseWord senseIn linguistics, a word sense is one of the meanings of a word.For example a dictionary may have over 50 different meanings of the word , each of these having a different meaning based on the context of the word usage in a sentence...
- Yehoshua Bar-HillelYehoshua Bar-HillelYehoshua Bar-Hillel was an Israeli philosopher, mathematician, and linguist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, best known for his pioneering work in machine translation and formal linguistics.- Biography :...
- Zeno VendlerZeno VendlerZeno Vendler was an American philosopher of language, and a founding member and former director of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary. His work on lexical aspect, quantifiers, and nominalization has been influential in the field of linguistics.-Life:Vendler was born and...
- ZhuangziZhuangziZhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...