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The Philosophy of Language

Professor Mitchell S. Green

Publication Date - September 2020

ISBN: 9780190853044

208 pages
Paperback
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches

In Stock

A compact, current, and engaging overview of the field

Description

Mitchell Green's The Philosophy of Language is ideal for both undergraduate and graduate philosophy of language courses. Featuring a lucid and engaging writing style, it provides a succinct and accessible introduction to the field. Designed for ready use with primary sources, it offers numerous pointers to work from classic and contemporary philosophers, including Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Kripke, Davidson, Quine, Grice, and others. The book also highlights contemporary research, including non-ideal philosophy of language--such as work on slurs and communicative injustice--and the relation of language to aesthetic questions through such topics as fictional discourse, metaphor, and irony. Each chapter is enhanced by study questions and suggestions for further reading. An appendix and a glossary facilitate quick retrieval of many of the high-level concepts.

New to this Edition

  • n/a

Features

  • Offers comprehensive, student-friendly coverage of the major arguments, ideas, and philosophers in the field
  • Highlights contemporary research, including non-ideal philosophy of language--such as work on slurs and communicative injustice--and the relation of language to aesthetic questions through such topics as fictional discourse, metaphor, and irony
  • Each chapter is enhanced by study questions and suggestions for further reading
  • An appendix and a glossary facilitate quick retrieval of many of the high-level concepts

About the Author(s)

Mitchell S. Green is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of several books, including Self-Expression (OUP, 2008), and the coeditor, with John N. Williams, of Moore's Paradox: New Essays on Belief, Rationality, and the First Person (OUP, 2007).

Reviews

"The Philosophy of Language provides a fuller introduction to the field and one that promises to engage students more than other available textbooks. I like the shift in the direction of pragmatics. The book is approachable and engaging and would work well in my undergraduate philosophy of language course."--Michael O'Rourke, Michigan State University

"I can see myself using this book. A striking strength is the breadth of content the author covers. His writing is clear, engaging, and written at the appropriate level."--Peter van Elswyk, Rutgers University

"This is a clear and serious overview of many of the central issues in philosophy of language."--Jacob Berger, Idaho State University

Table of Contents

    List of Figures, Tables, and Boxes
    Preface

    CHAPTER 1. Meaning: Varieties, Aspects, and Sources
    1.1. Some Varieties of Meaning
    1.2. Eleven Aspects of Communicative Meaning
    1.3. Where Does Linguistic Meaning Come from?
    1.4. What Is Language?
    1.5. Philosophy and Other Approaches to Language
    1.6. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 2. Characterizing Linguistic Meaning
    2.1. Constraints on Characterization
    2.2. Dictionaries
    2.3. Ideas
    2.4. Verification Conditions
    2.5. Usage, Emotivism, and the Autonomy of Meaning
    2.6. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 3. Linguistic Meaning and Truth Conditions
    3.1. Speaking of Nothing
    3.2. Quantifiers and Other Logical Constants
    3.3. Descriptions
    3.4. Truth-Conditional Semantics and Linguistic Meaning
    3.5. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 4. Sense and Reference
    4.1. Millian Heirs: The Theory of Direct Reference
    4.2. Making Sense
    4.3. Objections to the Descriptive Theory of Names
    4.4. Direct Reference Returns, and Some Nihilism
    4.5. The New Fregeans
    4.6. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 5. Speech Acts and Conversations
    5.1. Locution, Illocution, Perlocution
    5.2. Speaker Meaning
    5.3. Varieties of Speech Acts and Conversations
    5.4. Infelicities: Misfires and Abuses
    5.5. Indirect Speech Acts
    5.6. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 6. Context Sensitivity, Implicature, and Presupposition
    6.1. Indexicals: Character and Content
    6.2. Implicature: Conventional, Conversational, and Beyond
    6.3. Presupposition: Semantic and Pragmatic
    6.4. Explicature
    6.5. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 7. Despicable Discourse
    7.1. Injustice and Malfeasance in Language
    7.2. Slurs and Epithets
    7.3. Generics
    7.4. Silencing, Distorting, and Subordinating
    7.5. Paths to Amelioration
    7.6. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    CHAPTER 8. Artful Language: Fiction, Metaphor, Irony, and Jokes
    8.1. Fictional Discourse
    8.2. Similes and Metaphors
    8.3. Irony
    8.4. Jokes
    8.5. Study Questions and Suggestions for Further Reading

    Appendix: Eleven Features of Communicative Meaning

    Glossary
    Index
    Contents ix

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