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333Sense and ProofIn M. D'agostino, G. Giorello, F. Laudisa, T. Pievani & C. Sinigaglia (eds.), New Essays in Logic and Philosophy of Science,, College Publicationss. 2010.In this paper we give some formal examples of ideas developed by Penco in two papers on the tension inside Frege's notion of sense (see Penco 2003). The paper attempts to compose the tension between semantic and cognitive aspects of sense, through the idea of sense as proof or procedure – not as an alternative to the idea of sense as truth condition, but as complementary to it (as it happens sometimes in the old tradition of procedural semantics).
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36Propositional attitudes towards presuppositionsPragmatics and Cognition 22 (3): 291-308. 2014.According to the Common Ground account proposed by Stalnaker, speakers involved in a verbal interaction have different propositional attitudes towards presuppositions. In this paper we propose an experimental study aimed at estimating the psychological plausibility of the Stalnakerian model. In particular, the goal of our experiment is to evaluate variations in accepting as appropriate a sentence that triggers a presupposition, where different attitudes are taken towards the presupposition requi…Read more
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24Significato, uso, procedureLingua E Stile (2): 87-99. 1992.In this paper we give some theoretical links between the wittgensteinian strategy of language-games and the strategy followed by students in Artificial Intelligence in the seventies. We refer also to the interpretation given by Dummett and Prawitz to the Wittgenstein's slogan of "meaning as use", showing the link of this ideas with the needs of Artificial Intelligence. We sustain that the concept of "procedure" as developed in early Artificial Intelligence is still one of the main attempt, reali…Read more
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73Objective and cognitive contextIn P. Brezillon & P. Bouquet (eds.), Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer. 1999.In what follows I consider the apparent contrast between two kinds of theories of context: a theory of objective context - exemplified in the works of Kaplan and Lewis - and a theory of subjective context -exemplified in the works of McCarthy and Giunchiglia. I consider then some difficulties for the objective theory. I don't give any formalization; instead I give some theoretical points about the problem. A possible result could be the abandon of the double indexing for a development a multi-co…Read more
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491Dummett and Wittgenstein's Philosophy of MathematicsIn Brian McGuiness & Gianluigi Oliveri (eds.), The Philosophy of Michael Dummett, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 113--136. 1994.
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80Local holismIn P. Bouquet (ed.), Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 290--303. 2001.This paper is devoted to discuss a general tendency in contextualism which is known as "radical contextualism". In the first part I state the well known paradox of semantic holism, as discussed in philosophy of language: if meaning is holistic there is no possibility to share any meaning. In the second part I present the different answers to this paradox, from atomism to different forms of holism. In the third part I give a criticism of the traditional interpretation of Wittgenstein as a support…Read more
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1034What Happened to the Sense of a Concept Word?ProtoSociology 30 6-28. 2013.In this paper I shall outline a short history of the ideas concerning sense and reference of a concept-word from Frege to model theoretic semantics. I claim that, contrary to what is normally supposed, a procedural view of sense may be compatible with model theoretic semantics, especially in dealing with problems at the boundary between semantics and pragmatics. A first paragraph on the paradox of the concept horse will clarify the attitude concerning the history of ideas that I assume in this p…Read more
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795Between Knowing How and Knowing ThatLiber Amicorum Pascal Engel. 2014.I wonder whether the idea of knowing how as kind of knowing that with a peculiar mode of presentation really helps in the debate between philosophers and scientists.
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197Idiolect and contextIn L. E. Hahn (ed.), Library of Living Philosphers: the Philosophy of Michael Dummett, Open Court. 2007.In this paper I will compare some of Dummett and Davidson’s claims on the problem of communication and idiolects: how can we understand each other if we use different idiolects? First I define the problem, giving the alternative theses of (I) the priority of language over idiolects and (II) the priority of idiolects over language. I then present Dummett's claims supporting (I) and Davidson's claims supporting (II).
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S.G. Shanker, "Wittgenstein and the Turning Point in the Philosophy of Mathematics" (review)Epistemologia 11 (1): 163. 1988.
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R. De Monticelli, "Dottrine dell'intelligenza. Saggio su Frege e Wittgenstein" (review)Epistemologia 6 (2): 360. 1983.
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411Sense and Linguistic Meaning: a Solution to the Kirkpe-Burge ConflictParadigmi 23 (3). 2013.In this paper I apply a well known tension between cognitive and semantic aspects in Frege’s notion of sense to his treatment of indexicals. I first discusses Burge’s attack against the identification of sense and meaning, and Kripke’s answer supporting such identification. After showing different problems for both interpreters, the author claims that the tension in Frege’s conception of sense (semantic and cognitive) accounts for some shortcomings of both views, and that considering the tensio…Read more
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755Frege: Two theses, two sensesHistory and Philosophy of Logic 24 (2): 87-109. 2003.One particular topic in the literature on Frege’s conception of sense relates to two apparently contradictory theses held by Frege: the isomorphism of thought and language on one hand and the expressibility of a thought by different sentences on the other. I will divide the paper into five sections. In (1) I introduce the problem of the tension in Frege’s thought. In (2) I discuss the main attempts to resolve the conflict between Frege’s two contradictory claims, showing what is wrong with some …Read more
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P.A. French, T.E. Uehling Jr., H.K. Wettstein, "The Foundations of Analytic Philosophy" (review)Epistemologia 7 (2): 317. 1984.
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750Essentially Incomplete DescriptionsEuropean Journal of Analytic Philosophy 6 (2). 2010.In this paper I offer a defence of a Russellian analysis of the referential uses of incomplete (mis)descriptions, in a contextual setting. With regard to the debate between a unificationist and an ambiguity approach to the formal treatment of definite descriptions (introduction), I will support the former against the latter. In 1. I explain what I mean by "essentially" incomplete descriptions: incomplete descriptions are context dependent descriptions. In 2. I examine one of the best versions of…Read more
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20Competenza e competenzeIride: Filosofia e Discussione Pubblica 329-397. 1998.Lexical Competence si presenta come una analisi dei diversi aspetti del del concetto di competenza semantica, con contributi originali sull'aspetto referenziale e sui problemi al margine tra filosofia e intelligenza artificiale. La pacata analisi del concetto di competenza lessicale porta a criticare tesi filosofiche sostanziali: le teorie oggettivistiche del significato alla Putnam tendono a ipostatizzare le norme semantiche, e le teorie naturaliste alla Chomsky tendono a dare poco o nessuno sp…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
Gottlob Frege |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Language |
Gottlob Frege |
Complex Demonstratives |
Demonstratives, Misc |