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194The philosophy of David Kaplan (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2010.This volume collects new, previously unpublished articles on Kaplan, analyzing a broad spectrum of topics ranging from cutting edge linguistics and the ...
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22Perhaps (?), New logical foundations are needed for quantum mechanicsLogique Et Analyse 21 (82): 251. 1978.
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62Is a Unified Description of Language-and-Thought Possible?Journal of Philosophy 102 (10): 493-531. 2005.
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26David Kaplan: the man at workIn Joseph Almog & Paolo Leonardi (eds.), The philosophy of David Kaplan, Oxford University Press. pp. 1. 2010.
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206The structure–in–things: Existence, essence and logicProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 103 (2). 2003.It has been common in contemporary philosophical logic to separate existence, essence and logic. I would like to reverse these separative tendencies. Doing so yields two theses, one about the existential basis of truth, the other about the essentialist basis of logic. The first thesis counters the common claim that both logical and essential truths-in short, structural truths-are existence-free. It is proposed that only real existences can generate essentialist and logical predications. The seco…Read more
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37RepliesPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (3): 717-734. 2007.Lucky is the writer whose commentators combine perceptiveness and grace. My two commentators delved deeply into the framework I assume in WAI. Where they see gaps, they elegantly nudge the discussion towards needed extensions/clarifications. Both use the monograph to launch searching metaphysical questions—about method and content. I will take up matters of method first, then turn to specific questions in the interpretation of Descartes and the metaphysics of essence/necessity/conceivability.
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95Direct reference and significant cognition: Any paradoxes?1Philosophical Books 47 (1): 2-14. 2006.
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41The Plenitude of Structures and Scarcity of PossibilitiesJournal of Philosophy 88 (11): 620-622. 1991.
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124Précis of what am I? (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (3). 2005.What Am I? is so-called because of its focus on Descartes’ primal question in the mind-body realm and his primal answer, viz. “a man”. The question and answer are primal in both senses of the adjective: they come first, early in meditation II, when the topic is broached for the first time; and, in my view of Descartes, they are also the most fundamental question and answer. There are other questions—many many other questions—Descartes raises about the mind-body problem. Some came to substitute f…Read more
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89A Unified Treatment of (Pro-) Nominals in Ordinary EnglishIn Andrea Bianchi (ed.), On reference, Oxford University Press Uk. 2015.
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Dualistic materialismIn Robert C. Koons & George Bealer (eds.), The waning of materialism, Oxford University Press. 2010.
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47Referential Mechanics: Direct Reference and the Foundations of SemanticsOxford University Press. 2014.This volume is focused on understanding a key idea in modern semantics-direct reference-and its integration into a general semantics for natural language.
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238Frege puzzles?Journal of Philosophical Logic 37 (6). 2008.The first page of Frege’s classic “Uber Sinn und Bedeutung” sets for more than a hundred years now the agenda for much of semantics and the philosophy of mind. It presents a purported puzzle whose solution is said to call upon the “entities” of semantics (meanings) and psychological explanation (Psychological states, beliefs, concepts). The paper separates three separate alleged puzzles that can be read into Frege’s data. It then argues that none are genuine puzzles. In turn, much of the Frege-d…Read more
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103Cogito? Descartes and Thinking the WorldOxford University Press. 2008.This volume looks at the first half of the proposition--cogito.
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668What Am I?: Descartes and the Mind-Body ProblemOxford University Press. 2001.In his Meditations, Rene Descartes asks, "what am I?" His initial answer is "a man." But he soon discards it: "But what is a man? Shall I say 'a rational animal'? No: for then I should inquire what an animal is, what rationality is, and in this way one question would lead down the slope to harder ones." Instead of understanding what a man is, Descartes shifts to two new questions: "What is Mind?" and "What is Body?" These questions develop into Descartes's main philosophical preoccupation: the M…Read more