[en] We sketch several variants of so-called “semantic externalism”, which we take to be prototypically embodied by Wittgenstein, Kripke and Burge respectively. Then, drawing inspiration from Putnam, we show how aspects of these different kinds of semantic externalism can be articulated with each other in the case of natural kind terms, and we suggest that this analysis could be extended to a larger set of words. When that is done, we turn to the core part of the paper, which consists in a thorough discussion of the forms of “semantic deference” that can plausibly be associated with each brand of externalism. We suggest that the debates over the kinds of semantic externalism characteristic of different kinds of words can be clarified by investigating the kind of semantic deference they call for.
Research center :
MéThéor - Métaphysique et Théorie de la Connaissance - ULiège Traverses - ULiège
Disciplines :
Philosophy & ethics Languages & linguistics
Author, co-author :
De Brabanter, Philippe; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Leclercq, Bruno ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de philosophie > Philosophie analytique et de la logique
Language :
English
Title :
Semantic externalism(s) and semantic deference
Alternative titles :
[fr] Externalisme(s) sémantiques et déférence sémantique
Publication date :
2019
Name of the research project :
Transparence cognitive des contenus sémantiques et détermination pragmatique des référents
Funders :
F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique [BE]