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620On a unitary semantical analysis for definite and indefinite descriptionsIn Marga Reimer & Anne Bezuidenhout (eds.), Descriptions and Beyond, Oxford University Press. pp. 420-437. 2004.
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236Indexical PredicatesMind and Language 24 (4): 467-493. 2009.We discuss the challenge to truth-conditional semantics presented by apparent shifts in extension of predicates such as ‘red’. We propose an explicit indexical semantics for ‘red’ and argue that our account is preferable to the alternatives on conceptual and empirical grounds.
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181Keep making senseSynthese 170 (2): 275-287. 2009.In a number works Jerry Fodor has defended a reductive, causal and referential theory of cognitive content. I argue against this, defending a quasi-Fregean notion of cognitive content, and arguing also that the cognitive content of non-singular concepts is narrow, rather than wide.
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174The Causal Inefficacy of ContentMind and Language 24 (1): 80-102. 2009.The paper begins with the assumption that psychological event tokens are identical to or constituted from physical events. It then articulates a familiar apparent problem concerning the causal role of psychological properties. If they do not reduce to physical properties, then either they must be epiphenomenal or any effects they cause must also be caused by physical properties, and hence be overdetermined. It then argues that both epiphenomenalism and over‐determinationism are prima facie perfe…Read more
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141The causal efficacy of contentPhilosophical Studies 63 (July): 1-30. 1991.Several philosophers have argued recently that semantic properties do play a causal role. 1 It is our view that none of these arguments are satisfactory. Our aim is to reveal some of the deficiencies of these arguments, and to reassess the question in our own way. In section 1, we shall explain in more detail what is involved in the pretheoretical idea of a causally efficacious property and so provide a fuller sense of the issue. In section 2 we shall discuss Fodor's and Kim's arguments that the…Read more
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140Cognitive content and propositional attitude attributionsIn Brian P. McLaughlin & Jonathan D. Cohen (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 2006.Tyler Burge (Burge (1979)) has developed a very influential line of anti-individualistic thought. He argued that the cognitive content of a person
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126A Slim Book About Narrow ContentMIT Press. 2000.The book, written in a clear, engaging style, contains four chapters.
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124Reference, causal powers, externalist intuitions, and unicornsIn Richard Schantz (ed.), The Externalist Challenge, De Gruyter. pp. 329. 2004.In this chapter, I will compare and contrast singular concepts with what I call
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101Two theories of namesMind and Language 16 (5). 2001.Two semantic theories of proper names are explained and assessed. The theories are Burge’s treatment of proper names as complex demonstratives and Larson and Segal’s quasi-descriptivist account of names. The two theories are evaluated for empirical plausibility. Data from deficits, processing models, developmental studies and syntax are all discussed. It is concluded that neither theory is fully confirmed or refuted by the data, but that Larson and Segal’s theory has more empirical plausibility
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99A preference for sense and referenceJournal of Philosophy 86 (2): 73-89. 1989.The topic of this paper is the semantic structure of belief reports of the form 'a believes that p'. it is argued that no existing theory of these sentences satisfactorily accounts for anaphoric relations linking expressions within the embedded complement sentence to expressions outside. a new account of belief reports is proposed which assigns to embedded expressions their normal semantic values but which also exploits frege's idea of using senses to explain the apparent failures of extensional…Read more
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95Knowledge of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantic TheoryMIT Press. 1995.Current textbooks in formal semantics are all versions of, or introductions to, the same paradigm in semantic theory: Montague Grammar. Knowledge of Meaning is based on different assumptions and a different history. It provides the only introduction to truth- theoretic semantics for natural languages, fully integrating semantic theory into the modern Chomskyan program in linguistic theory and connecting linguistic semantics to research elsewhere in cognitive psychology and philosophy. As such, i…Read more
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86Alcoholism, Disease, and InsanityPhilosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 20 (4): 297-315. 2013.It is argued that alcoholism, and substance addiction generally, is a disease. It is not of its nature chronic or progressive, although it is in serious cases. It is better viewed as a psychological disease than a neurological one. It is argued that each time an alcoholic takes a drink, this is the result of choice; however, in cases of serious affliction, such choices are compulsive and may be called 'involuntary' in that they are made against the subject's will, motivated by an overwhelmingly …Read more
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82Hope as a Primitive Mental StateRatio 28 (2): 207-222. 2015.We criticize attempts to define hope in terms of other psychological states and argue that hope is a primitive mental state whose nature can be illuminated by specifying key aspects of its functional profile
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79Two Theories of NamesRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 51 75-93. 2002.The aim of this paper is to assess the relative merits of two accounts of the semantics of proper names. The enterprise is of particular interest because the theories are very similar in fundamental respects. In particular, they can agree on three major features of names: names are rigid designators; different co-extensive names can have different cognitive significance; empty proper names can be meaningful. Neither theory by itself offers complete explanations of all three features. But each th…Read more
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66This paper is principally devoted to comparing and contrasting poverty of stimulus arguments for innate cognitive apparatus in relation to language and in relation to folk psychology. These days one is no longer allowed to use the term ‘innate’ without saying what one means by it. So I will begin by saying what I mean by ‘innate’. Sections 2 and 3 will discuss language and theory of mind, respectively. Along the way, I will also briefly discuss other arguments for innate cognitive apparatus in t…Read more
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63IntentionalityIn Frank Jackson & Michael Smith (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 2005.Article
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61Truth and MeaningIn Ernest Lepore & Barry C. Smith (eds.), The Oxford Handbook to the Philosophy of Language, Oxford University Press. 2006.This article says something about previous work related to truth and meaning, goes on to discuss Davidson and related papers of his, and then discusses some issues arising. It begins with the work of Gottlob Frege. Much work in the twentieth century developed Frege's ideas. A great deal of that work continued with the assumption that semantics is fundamentally concerned with the assignments of entities to expressions. So, for example, those who tried to develop a formal account of sense did so b…Read more
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46Review of Robert Andrew Wilson: Cartesian Psychology and Physical Minds: Individualism and the Sciences of the Mind (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (1): 151-156. 1997.
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41Content and Computation: Chasing the Arrows A Critical Notice of Jerry Fodor's The Elm and the ExpertMind and Language 12 (3-4): 490-501. 1997.
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37VI*—In the Mood for a Semantic TheoryProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 91 (1): 103-118. 1991.Gabriel Segal; VI*—In the Mood for a Semantic Theory, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 91, Issue 1, 1 June 1991, Pages 103–118, https://doi.org/1.
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34Knowledge of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantic TheoryPhilosophical Review 106 (1): 122. 1997.To the best of my knowledge, no one in recent decades has written a book of this magnitude about the semantics of natural language. Certainly, nothing available today matches this volume in depth, precision, and coherence. The authors present classical and recent results of linguistic semantics within the framework of interpretative T-theories and defend the philosophical foundations of their approach by showing how it fits into the larger enterprise of cognitive linguistics. The book also inclu…Read more
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32Common Sense, Science, and ‘Spirituality’Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 20 (4): 325-328. 2013.