semantics Logical Approach.docx

semantics Logical Approach.docx

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semanticsLogicalApproach

★APhilosophicalApproach（p144）

1TheScopeofphilosophyoflanguage

♣Thephilosophyoflanguagedealswiththenatureoflanguage.Katz:

‘Itisasomewhatparadoxicalfactthattheconceptualsystemsthatgivemananunderstandingofhimselfandhisworldarethemselvesnotadequatelyunderstoodbyhim.EveryonewillreadilyagreethatCopernicanastronomy,atomicphysics,thekinetictheoryofheat,relativetheory,andothercomparablescientificsystemshavemadeouruniverseafarmorecomprehensiveplacetoliveinthanitwaseverbeforetheirconstruction.Suchconceptualsystemssuccessfullyexplainlargerangesofcomplexnaturalphenomena;yetthatstandinneedofmuchexplanationthemselves.Indeed,itwasnottoomuchtosaythat,asthingsarepresently,thereisneedforclarificationonalmosteverypointconcerningthenatureofsuchsystemsandthateventhemostelementaryquestionsaboutthemstillremainunanswered.Forexample,wearestillunabletosayexactlywhatascientifictheoryis,whatsortsofexplanationsareobtainedfromempiricallysuccessfultheories,howtheoriesdifferfromlaws,whatlawsare,orhowlawsandtheoriesareconfirmedbyevidence.Thus,weareveryfarfromafullunderstandingoftheseconceptualsystemstakenasobjectsoftheoreticalinvestigation,eventhoughtheyareunderstoodinthestraightforwardsenseinwhichanunderstandingofthemisessentialtogainingtheunderstandingtheyaffordoftheirsubjectmatter.Paradoxically,welackanunderstandingofwhattheyare,eventhough,inthestraightforwardsense,weunderstandthemwellenoughtosayquitealotaboutotherthings.（p.144）

Itiswiththisneedtounderstandthenatureofconceptualsystemsthatphilosophicalinquirybegins.Philosophytakestheconceptualsystemsdevelopedbyscientists,mathematicians,artcritics,moralists,theologians,etal.,asitssubjectmatterandseekstoexplainandclarifywhathastobeexplainedandclarifiedaboutsuchsystemsinordertorenderthemfullycomprehensible.Philosopherspursuethistaskbydescribingthestructureoftheseconceptualsystems,analyzingthemethodsbywhichsuchsystemsarearrivedat,andevaluatingthevalidityoftheclaimsmadeforthem.Todaysuchdescription,analysis,andevaluationofparticularconceptualsystemswithinvariousacademicdisciplinesiscarriedonwithintheseveralbranchesofphilosophy:

philosophy6fscience,philosophyofmathematics,philosophyofart（aesthetics）,philosophyofmorality（ethics）,philosophyofreligion,andsoforth.

Buttheparticularconceptualsystemsconsideredineachofthesespecialbranchesofphilosophyarefarfromindependentofoneanother.Rather,notonlydosuchparticularconceptualsystemsoverlap—sothatonesysteminonedisciplineutilizestheinsightsofandposesproblemsforothersindifferentdisciplines—buttogethertheparticularconceptualsystemsfromeverydisciplineformanintegratedfabricofconceptualknowledge.Thus,philosophy,initsmostembracingconcern,studiesthisover-allfabricofconceptualknowledge,seekingtoarticulatethegeneralstructureofconceptualknowledge,todetermine4heintellectualandempiricalmethodscommontoallformsofconceptualconstruction,andtorevealtheprinciplesbywhichgenuinecognitiveclaimscanbedistinguishedfromspuriousorinsubstantialones-Consequently,althoughthephilosophicalinvestigationoftheover-allsystemofconceptualknowledgeandthephilosophicalinvestigationofparticularconceptualsystemsaredistinguishable,andthisdistinctionisquiteimportanttothedivisionofphilosophicallabor,theyarestronglydependentoneachother.Theresultsofeachinvestigationmustperforcecontributesignificantlytothoseoftheother,withtheformerprovidingorganizationandresearchfocusforthelatterandthelatterprovidinghidingsthatserveasevidencefortheformer.WithoutsuchInterconnectionsandinteractiontheformer'sachievementswouldlacksubstantiation,whilethelatter'swouldlosemuchoftheirintellectualsignificance.

Philosophyoflanguageisanareainthephilosophicalinvestigationifconceptualknowledge,ratherthanoneoftheseveralbranchesofcontemporaryphilosophy,suchasphilosophyofscience,philosophyofmathematics,philosophyofart,andsoforth.Itisthatareawhichseekstolearnwhatcanbelearnedaboutconceptualknowledgefromthefannerinwhichsuchknowledgeisexpressedandcommunicatedinlanguage.Accordingly,thebasicpremiseofthephilosophyoflanguageisthatthereisastrongrelationbetweentheformandcontentoflanguageandtheformandcontentofconceptualization.Thespecialtaskofthephilosophyoflanguageis,therefore,toexplorethisrelationandmakewhateverinferencesaboutthestructureofconceptualknowledgecanbemadeonthebasisofwhatisknownaboutthestructureoflanguage.

Thus,thephilosophyoflanguageisadistinctfieldfromthephilosophyoflinguistics,whichisthatdivisionofthephilosophyofsciencewhosemajorconcernistheexaminationofthetheories,methodology,andpracticeofthedescriptivelinguist.Theremay,ofcourse,beconsiderableinterpenetrationbetweenthesetwofields;but,nonetheless,theyhavefundamentallydifferentresearchaimsandproceedatdifferentlevelsofabstraction.

Thisconceptionofthephilosophyoflanguageisbroadenoughtoencompasstheworkofthemostdiversephilosopherswhohaveoccupiedthemselveswithlanguage.ItcoversPlato'sworkonlanguageaswellasAriristotle's;itcoverstheworkofrationalistssuchasDescartes,Cordemoy,Arnauld,andLeibnizaswellasthatofempiricistssuchasLocke,Berkeley,Hume,andMill;anditcoverstheworkofsuchmodernphilosophersasFrege,Husserl,Russell,Wittgenstein,Carnap,Ryle,Austin,andothers.Moreover,itrepresentswhatiscertainlythephilosopher'suniqueconcernwithlanguage:

thedesiretoacquireinformationaboutlanguagethatwillhelphimdealwiththebasicproblemsofphilosophy.Thus,thisconceptiondistinguishesthephilosopher'sconcernwithlanguagefromthatofscholarsinotherdisciplineswhoseconcernwithlanguagestemsfromaninterestinthingsotherthananunderstandingofconceptualknowledgeperse,thatis,fromthelinguist'sconcernwithlanguageforitsownsake,thesociologist'sconcernforthelightitshedsonsociety,thepsychologist'sconcernfortheinsightitcangiveaboutthedevelopmentandcharacterofmentalprocesses,theanthropologist'sconcernfortheclarificationitcanaffordaboutthenatureofculture,etc.

Finally,notethatthisconceptiondoesnotplacethelinguisticquestionswithwhichphilosophershaveoftendealtoutsidethesphereofthephilosophyoflanguage;butitdoesmeanthatthetaskofthephilosopheroflanguageisnotcompletedoncehehasobtainedtheanswerstopurelylinguisticquestions,forthentheimplicationofsuchanswersforthesolutiontoquestionsaboutthestructureofconceptualknowledgestillremaintobedrawn.

♣Informationaboutlanguageisthushisstartingpointonly.Hisgoalistoutilizesuchinformationtocontributetothesolutionsofthosetraditionalphilosophicalproblemsthatstandinthewayofafullunderstandingofconceptualknowledge.'（Katz,1966:

1-6）

Fromthedescriptionabove,wecouldseethatphilosophershavebeeninterestedinlanguageforalongtimeandforvariousreasons.Tosummarize,first,'sincelanguageseemstobecharacteristicofhumanbeings,toknowaboutlanguageistosomethingaboutbeinghuman,second,sincecertainphilosophicalproblemsseemtoarisefromfalsebeliefsaboutthestructureoflanguage,understandingitmayhelpsolvethoseproblemsoravoidthemaltogether.★'Third,manyphilosophershaveheldthatlanguageisareflectionofreality,so,ifonecouldunderstandthestructureoflanguage,onecouldunderstandthestructureofreality'（Martinich,1993:

3）

♣Tobemorespecific,philosophersdistinguishthreeareasofthestudyoflanguage:

syntax,semantics,andpragmatics.Syntaxisthe'ofrulesthatdescribewhatawell-formedgrammaticalsentenceinpurelyformalterms.Asfarasthepresentbookisconcerned,syntaxisoutsideofourconcernhere.Pragmaticsisthestudyofwhatspeakersdowithlanguage.Speakersdonotsimplytalk.Inorbyspeaking,they,forexample,promise,marry,swear,forgive,apologize,insult,andenrage.

Furthermore,whatiscommunicatedisnotwhollyconveyedbywhatissaid;muchisimplied（theimplicatureoftheutterance.）.

2♣Philosophicalsemantics

'Semanticsfromthephilosophicalpointofviewconcernsthenatureofmeaningitself.'Philosophicalsemanticsstudiesthefollowingbasicproblems:

（a）whetherandhowmeaningisatallpossible,and（b）2kindsofmeaningsthatareinprinciplepossible.Thefirstproblemconcernsthelogicalunderpinningsoflinguisticmeaning,thatis,canwedeterminemeaningatallandhow?

Thesecondproblemconcernswhatweshouldfind,assumingthatwehavejudgedthepursuitinthefirstproblempossible.Thesequestionsareclearlyontological,inthephilosophicalsense,inthattheyconcernwhatmustbethecase,philosophicalsemanticsisprimarilyadeductiveenterprise,devotedtolexaminationofwhatoughttobeandfromwhichtheactualfacts,whatI,happilyfallout.Linguisticsemanticsisprimarilyanempiricaldiscipline,inductive,data-driven,andthereforeinvolvedfirstwithwhatactuallyexists,whatinprinciplemustbe.

3Howismeaningpossible?

Tosaythatsomethinghasmeaningistosaythatitisasign,acompositeunitconsistingofarelationbetweenanovertsignal,calledthesignifier,andtheinformationthatthisovertsignal