The Problem of the Essential Indexical and Other Essays, Expanded Edition

John Perry

ISBN 10: 1575862697 / ISBN 13: 9781575862699

Published by Centre For The Study Of Language & Information Jun 2000, 2000

About this Item

Neuware - No word in English is shorter than the word I.' And yet no word is more important in philosophy. When Descartes said I think therefore I am' he produced something that was both about himself and a universal formula. The word I' is called an indexical' because its meaning always depends on who says it. Other examples of indexicals are you, ' here, ' this' and now.' John Perry discusses how these kinds of words work, and why they express important philosophical thoughts. He shows that indexicals pose a challenge to traditional assumptions about language and thought. Over the years a number of these papers, now included in this book, have sparked lively debates and have been influential in philosophy, linguistics and other areas of cognitive science. With seven new papers, including the previously unpublished What Are Indexicals , ' the present volume expands on an earlier version of this book published in the early nineties. Also included are the well-known papers Frege on Demonstratives, ' Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference, ' Evading the Slingshot, ' The Prince and the Phone booth' (coauthored with Mark Crimmins), Fodor on Psychological Explanations' (coauthored with David Israel), and related papers on situation semantics, direct reference, and the structure of belief. This book also includes afterwords written by the author that discuss responses to his work by Gareth Evans, Robert Stalnaker, Barbara Partee, Howard Wettstein and others.

Seller Inventory # 9781575862699

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Problem of the Essential Indexical and Other Essays, Expanded Edition
• Publisher: Centre For The Study Of Language & Information Jun 2000
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1575862697
• ISBN 13: 9781575862699
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 153H x 26D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 153 millimeters height by 26 millimeters depth
• Weight: 598 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book includes famous papers such as "The Problem of the Essential Indexical" and Frege on "Demonstratives and Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference"; papers co-authored with Mark Crimmins ("The Prince and the Phone Booth") and David Israel ("Fodor on Psychological Explanations") and related papers on situation semantics, direct reference, and the structure of belief. Perry has added afterwords that discuss responses to his work by Gareth Evans, Robert Stalnaker, Barbara Partee, Howard Wettstein and others. The word "I" is called an indexical which means who it stands for depends on who says it, not just on its meaning. Other indexicals are "you," "here" and "now." Perry discusses how these words work, and why they express important philosophical thoughts. He claims that indexicals pose a challenge to traditional assumptions about language and thought, and for that reason a number of these papers sparked lively debates.

About the Author

John Perry is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, where he taught from 1974 to 2008, and from the University of California, Riverside, where he taught from 2008 to 2014. He has written books and articles on semantics (including pioneering work on situation semantics, with Jon Barwise), personal identity, the philosophy of language consciousness and other philosophical topics. He is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching and research, including honorary degrees from Doane College, the University of the Basque Country, and Bochum University. He is a researcher at the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI).