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84Context Dependent Quantifiers and Donkey AnaphoraCanadian Journal of Philosophy 34 (sup1): 97-127. 2004.
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Philosophical and Conceptual AnalysisIn Herman Cappelen, Tamar Gendler & John Hawthorne (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology, Oxford University Press. 2016.This article examines the main lines of contemporary thinking about analysis in philosophy. It first considers G. E. Moore’s statement of the paradox of analysis. It then reviews a number of accounts of analysis that address the paradox of analysis, including the account offered by Ernest Sosa 1983 and others by Felicia Ackerman ; the latter gives an account of analysis on which properties are the objects of analysis. It also discusses Jeffrey C. King’s accounts of philosophical analysis, before…Read more
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Part 3. Critical essays. Criticisms of Soames and SpeaksIn Jeffrey C. King, Scott Soames & Jeff Speaks (eds.), New Thinking About Propositions, Oxford University Press. 2014.
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Part 2. Three theories of propositions. Naturalized propositionsIn Jeffrey C. King, Scott Soames & Jeff Speaks (eds.), New Thinking About Propositions, Oxford University Press. 2014.
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Part 1. Common ground. What role do propositions play in our theories?In Jeffrey C. King, Scott Soames & Jeff Speaks (eds.), New Thinking About Propositions, Oxford University Press. 2014.
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28Kent Bach on Speaker Intentions and ContextCroatian Journal of Philosophy 13 (2): 161-168. 2013.It is generally believed that natural languages have lots of contextually sensitive expressions. In addition to familiar examples like ‘I’, ‘here’, ‘today’, ‘he’, ‘that’ and so on that everyone takes to be contextually sensitive, examples of expressions that many would take to be contextually sensitive include tense, modals, gradable adjectives, relational terms , possessives and quantifi ers . With the exception of contextually sensitive expressions discussed by Kaplan [1977], there has not bee…Read more
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109Questions of UnityProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 109 (1pt3): 257-277. 2009.In The Principles of Mathematics, Bertrand Russell famously puzzled over something he called the unity of the proposition. Echoing Russell, many philosophers have talked over the years about the question or problem of the unity of the proposition. In fact, I believe that there are a number of quite distinct though related questions all of which can plausibly be taken to be questions regarding the unity of propositions. I state three such questions and show how the theory of propositions defended…Read more
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27Transparent and Opaque Contextual SensitivityProtoSociology 38 87-105. 2021.Lots of contextually sensitive expressions appear to have context invariant meanings that do not by themselves suffice to secure semantic values for those expressions in context. For example, suppose I say 1. She is smart. where I do not demonstrate any female, I don’t intend that some female is the semantic value of my use of ‘she’, no female is uniquely salient in the context of utterance, and no female has been under discussion. It would appear in such a case that the context invariant meanin…Read more
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330Designating propositionsPhilosophical Review 111 (3): 341-371. 2002.Like many, though of course not all, philosophers, I believe in propositions. I take propositions to be structured, sentence-like entities whose structures are identical to the syntactic structures of the sentences that express them; and I have defended a particular version of such a view of propositions elsewhere. In the present work, I shall assume that the structures of propositions are at least very similar to the structures of the sentences that express them. Further, I shall assume that or…Read more
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191The nature and structure of contentOxford University Press. 2007.Belief in propositions has had a long and distinguished history in analytic philosophy. Three of the founding fathers of analytic philosophy, Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, and G. E. Moore, believed in propositions. Many philosophers since then have shared this belief; and the belief is widely, though certainly not universally, accepted among philosophers today. Among contemporary philosophers who believe in propositions, many, and perhaps even most, take them to be structured entities with in…Read more
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94Supplementives, the coordination account, and conflicting intentionsPhilosophical Perspectives 27 (1): 288-311. 2013.
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113Strong Contextual Felicity and Felicitous UnderspecificationPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 97 (3): 631-657. 2017.
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232Propositional unity: what’s the problem, who has it and who solves it?Philosophical Studies 165 (1): 71-93. 2013.At least since Russell’s influential discussion in The Principles of Mathematics, many philosophers have held there is a problem that they call the problem of the unity of the proposition. In a recent paper, I argued that there is no single problem that alone deserves the epithet the problem of the unity of the proposition. I there distinguished three problems or questions, each of which had some right to be called a problem regarding the unity of the proposition; and I showed how the account of…Read more
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245On fineness of grainPhilosophical Studies 163 (3): 763-781. 2013.A central job for propositions is to be the objects of the attitudes. Propositions are the things we doubt, believe and suppose. Some philosophers have thought that propositions are sets of possible worlds. But many have become convinced that such an account individuates propositions too coarsely. This raises the question of how finely propositions should be individuated. An account of how finely propositions should be individuated on which they are individuated very finely is sketched. Objectio…Read more
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31Felicitous Underspecification: Contextually Sensitive Expressions Lacking Unique Semantic Values in ContextOxford University Press. 2021.This book argues that contextually sensitive expressions have felicitous uses in which they lack unique semantic values in context. It formulates a rule for updating the Stalnakerian common ground in cases in which an accepted sentence contains an expression lacking a unique semantic value in context.
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163Acquaintance, singular thought and propositional constituencyPhilosophical Studies 172 (2): 543-560. 2015.In a recent paper, Armstrong and Stanley argue that despite being initially compelling, a Russellian account of singular thought has deep difficulties. I defend a certain sort of Russellian account of singular thought against their arguments. In the process, I spell out a notion of propositional constituency that is independently motivated and has many attractive features
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173New Thinking About PropositionsOxford University Press. 2014.Philosophy, science, and common sense all refer to propositions--things we believe and say, and things which are true or false. But there is no consensus on what sorts of things these entities are. Jeffrey C. King, Scott Soames, and Jeff Speaks argue that commitment to propositions is indispensable, and each defend their own views on the debate
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18The Cambridge handbook of constitutional theory (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2024.The book is aimed at students and scholars of law, politics and philosophy. Of unprecedented breadth, it offers both a survey of, and an original contribution to, the field by some the world's leading scholars of constitutional theory.
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30The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2024.This Handbook brings together contributions from leading scholars of constitutional theory, with backgrounds in law, philosophy, and political science. Its 60 chapters not only offer an exceptional survey of the field but also provide a major contribution to it. The book explores three main areas. Firstly, the values upheld by a constitution, including rights, freedom, equality, dignity and well-being. Secondly, the modalities of a constitutional system, such as the separation of powers, democra…Read more
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10The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2018.Deliberative democratic theory emphasises the importance of informed and reflective discussion and persuasion in political decision-making. The theory has important implications for constitutionalism - and vice versa - as constitutional laws increasingly shape and constrain political decisions. The full range of these implications has not been explored in the political and constitutional literatures to date. This unique Handbook establishes the parameters of the field of deliberative constitutio…Read more
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