The Controversy: The Philosophy Of Language
The philosophy of language is both fascinating and difficult. One reason for this is that hardly any issue in this area is uncontroversial. Controversy begins with some foundational and methodological questions. Consider, for example, this very basic question: What are the tasks of the philosophy of language? One obvious task is: the study of linguistic meanings. But this immediately raises two questions.
First, what are these ‘‘meanings’’? Linguistic expressions have the function of communicating messages, conveying information about the world. Clearly, the meanings of expressions play a crucial role here. Yet, as Martin Davies notes in chapter 1, we cannot simply identify meanings with messages because the one sentence can be used to communicate
First, what are these ‘‘meanings’’? Linguistic expressions have the function of communicating messages, conveying information about the world. Clearly, the meanings of expressions play a crucial role here. Yet, as Martin Davies notes in chapter 1, we cannot simply identify meanings with messages because the one sentence can be used to communicate