Extended interview with Prof. Michael Devitt – Part IV: Reference and Meaning скачать в хорошем качестве

Extended interview with Prof. Michael Devitt – Part IV: Reference and Meaning

Jagiellonian University’s co-production (Copernicus Center, The Jagiellonian Doctoral School in the Humanities, Institute of Philosophy). DESCRIPTION OF THE FOURTH PART: This is the first out of 3 parts that form the last segment of this extended interview and are dedicated to the study of language. In this interview, Prof. Michael Devitt and Agata Paszke discuss the issues of reference and meaning. In particular, they devote a fair share of time to discussing Prof. Devitt’s theory inspired by the ideas put forward by Saul Kripke but placed within a naturalistic framework. Prof. Devitt’s idea of meanings as causal modes of reference is also discussed. The interview ends with some reflections regarding competing direct reference theories. NEXT PARTS: PART V: Linguistics and Experimental Philosophy of Language PART VI: Semantics vs. Pragmatics MENTIONED FIGURES IN THE FOURTH PART: Andrea Bianchi, David Braun, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, Keith Donnellan, Hartry Field, Jerry A. Fodor, Gottlob Frege, Karl von Frisch, Paul Grice, Saul Kripke, Brian Loar, Charles Martin, John Stuart Mill, Plato, Hilary Putnam, Willard Van Orman Quine, Marga Reimer, Bertrand Russell, Nathan Salmon, Scott Soames, Stephen Stich MENTIONED WORKS IN THE FOURTH PART: Devitt, M. (1974) ‘Singular Terms’, Journal of Philosophy, 71(7): 183-205. Devitt, M. (1981) Designation. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Donnellan, K. (1966) ‘Reference and Definite Descriptions’, The Philosophical Review, 75(3): 281-304. Donnellan, K. (1970) ‘Proper Names and Identifying Descriptions’, Synthese, 21(3/4): 335- 358. Donnellan, K. (1974) ‘Speaking of Nothing’, Philosophical Review, 83(1): 3-31. Field, H. (1972) ‘Tarski’s Theory of Truth’, Journal of Philosophy, 69(13): 347-375. Kripke, S. (1980) Naming and Necessity. Many editions. Loar, B. (1976) ‘The Semantics of Singular Terms’, Philosophical Studies, 30(6): 353-377. Putnam, H. (1975) ‘The Meaning of “Meaning”’, Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 7: 131-193. Soames, S. (2002) Beyond Rigidity: The Unfinished Semantic Agenda of ‘Naming and Necessity’. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Prof. Michael Devitt is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Over the years, Professor Devitt has written extensively on topics from different branches of philosophy, most notably metaphysics and philosophy of language. Recently (2023) his book “Biological Essentialism” was published by Oxford University Press. Professor Devitt is also engaged in various projects in experimental philosophy. Agata Paszke (BA Philosophy) is a graduate philosophy major at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Her interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of language, metaphysics, and metaphilosophy. Her research concerns the problem of reference of various linguistic expressions, which she approaches by incorporating methods of traditional armchair philosophy alongside those of experimental philosophy.