Critical Pragmatics: An Inquiry into Reference and Communication

✍ Scribed by Kepa Korta and John Perry

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 193
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Critical Pragmatics develops three ideas: language is a way of doing things with words; meanings of phrases and contents of utterances derive ultimately from human intentions; and language combines with other factors to allow humans to achieve communicative goals. In this book, Kepa Korta and John Perry explain why critical pragmatics provides a coherent picture of how parts of language study fit together within the broader picture of human thought and action. They focus on issues about singular reference, that is, talk about particular things, places or people, which have played a central role in the philosophy of language for more than a century. They argue that attention to the 'reflexive' or 'utterance-bound' contents of utterances sheds new light on these old problems. Their important study proposes a new approach to pragmatics and should be of wide interest to philosophers of language and linguists.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Halftitle......Page 2
Title......Page 4
ISBN......Page 5
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 14
1.1 A conversation at Hondarribia airport......Page 16
1.2 Three ideas......Page 18
1.3 The anatomy of an utterance......Page 23
1.4 Singular reference......Page 27
1.5 The plan......Page 29
2.2.1 From Frege and Russell to the new theory of reference......Page 30
2.2.2 Two questions......Page 34
2.2.3 Indexicals......Page 35
2.3 The problem of cognitive significance......Page 36
2.4 From Kaplan to utterances......Page 37
3.2 Acts and actions......Page 40
3.3 Roles......Page 43
3.4 Signs and information......Page 45
3.5 Gricean reference......Page 46
4.2 Cognition and information: an analogy......Page 52
4.3 A modest theory of ideas......Page 53
4.4 Paradigm referential plans......Page 55
4.4.2 The directing intention......Page 56
4.4.3 The target intention......Page 57
4.5 Examples......Page 58
5.1 Introduction......Page 61
5.2 The professor and the portrait......Page 62
5.3 Forensics......Page 63
5.4 Walking through Donostia......Page 66
5.5 Truth-conditions......Page 68
5.6 Demonstratives and the problems of cognitive significance......Page 70
5.6.1 Co-reference......Page 71
5.6.2 No-reference......Page 72
6.1 Role-contexts......Page 74
6.2 Indexicals......Page 75
6.3 Using 'I'......Page 78
6.3.1 Misidentifying oneself......Page 83
6.4 Indexicals, dates, and time......Page 84
6.5 Technology and indexicals......Page 86
7.2 Names and nambiguity......Page 89
7.3.1 Coco-referring......Page 91
7.3.2 Networks......Page 94
7.4 Names and roles......Page 97
7.5 Names as role-coordination devices: examples......Page 98
7.6 Names and cognitive significance......Page 100
7.7 The no-reference problem......Page 103
8.1 Introduction......Page 105
8.2 Incomplete descriptions......Page 107
8.3 Designational truth-conditions and referring*......Page 109
8.4 Inaccurate descriptions......Page 111
8.5 Conclusion......Page 115
9.2 Unarticulated constituents and the supplemental nature of language......Page 117
9.3 Three kinds of unarticulated constituents......Page 119
9.3.1 Unarticulated and grammatically incomplete......Page 120
9.3.2 Unarticulated, grammatically complete, but referentially incomplete......Page 121
9.3.3 Unarticulated, even though grammatically and referentially complete......Page 123
9.4.1 Deep lexicalization......Page 124
9.5 Are unarticulated constituents a myth?......Page 126
10.2 Locutionary content versus what is said......Page 129
10.3 Locutionary acts and locutionary content......Page 131
10.4 Locuted but not said: some examples......Page 133
10.5 Locutionary versus propositional content......Page 135
10.6 Conclusion......Page 139
11.1 Introduction......Page 140
11.2 Grice and what is said......Page 141
Situation II......Page 143
Situation III......Page 144
11.4 Identity, implicature, and cognitive significance......Page 145
11.5 The man who has run out of petrol......Page 147
11.6 The maxim of manner of reference......Page 149
11.7 Conclusion......Page 153
12.1 Introduction......Page 154
12.2 Situating semantics......Page 155
12.3 Semantic content, raw and refined......Page 157
12.4 Minimalism, contextualism, and Critical Pragmatics......Page 158
12.5 Grice's circle......Page 162
13.2 Content......Page 165
13.2.1 Informational content......Page 166
13.2.2 Success-conditions......Page 167
13.2.3 Harnessing information......Page 168
13.2.4 Information games......Page 169
13.3 Propositions and the structure of action......Page 173
13.4 Coding and classification......Page 175
13.5 Back to Hondarribia......Page 178
14 Examples......Page 181
Bibliography......Page 185
Index......Page 190