Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
Conjoining Meanings
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
SERIESEDITOR:FrançoisRecanati,InstitutNicod
Othertitlesintheseries:
TheInessentialIndexical
OnthePhilosophicalInsignificanceofPerspectiveandtheFirstPerson
HermanCappelenandJoshDever
FixingReference
ImogenDickie
PropositionalContent
PeterHanks
TheMirroroftheWorld
Subjects,Consciousness,andSelf-Consciousness
ChristopherPeacocke
AssessmentSensitivity
RelativeTruthanditsApplications
JohnMacFarlane
Context
RobertC.Stalnaker
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
Conjoining Meanings
Semantics Without Truth Values
PAUL M. PIETROSKI
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
3
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Contents
Preface vii
Chapterzero:Overture
Chapterone:Locatingmeanings
Chaptertwo:Introducingconcepts
Chapterthree:Inventionandsatisfaction
Chapterfour:Truthorunderstanding
Chapterfive:Eventsandframing
Chaptersix:Massivelymonadic,potentiallyplural
Chapterseven:Minimalsemanticinstructions
Chaptereight:Reprise
References
GeneralIndex
Indexofnames
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
Preface
It’shardtosaywhenIstartedwritingthisbook.In,Iwasintheearlystagesof
writingabookthatwasbeginningtoaddresssimilarissues.Thatactivityinitiateda
scattered process that resulted in this product. The descendant bears little resem-
blancetoitsancestor.Butatsomepoint,therewasabookthatwasthisone,whose
mainthesisisthatmeaningsareinstructionsforhowtoaccessandassembleconcepts
of a special sort. One implication of my view is that ‘book’ does not have an
extension, and that semanticists don’t need to worry about what books are, or
when they come into existence. So let me turn to the more important matter of
thanking some people who provided help, along the road that led to this progress
report,andapologizingtothemanypeoplewhoprovidedhelpthatIhaveforgotten
orneverrecognized.Ihavebenefitedfrommanyacademicvillagesandtheircitizens,
inwayswhichguaranteethatmuchofwhatIthinkisduetothem,inwaysIcannot
trace.ButIdoremembersomeofmydebts.
Thelargestistomyfriendandcolleague,NorbertHornstein.IadmiredhisLogic
as Grammar before I got to know its author. But references to Norbert’s written
work,andourcollaborativeefforts,failtocapturehisdeeperinfluence.Wehavebeen
talking about this stuff, usually over lunches, for most of this century. Norbert
provided insightful comments on many drafts. More importantly, he has been an
unfailingsourceofencouragement,goodadvice,andgeneralcamaraderie.Iinitially
metNorbertviaJimMcGilvray,afriendandformercolleagueatMcGillUniversity.
I learned a lot from Jim, who regularly challenged my youthful fondness for truth
conditional semantics. At McGill, I was also part of a reading group that included
Jim, Dave Davies, and two linguists—Mark Baker and Brendon Gillon—who make
appearances in the pages below. In retrospect, I see being part of that group as a
formative experience with regard to how I currently think about meaning, syntax,
andtruth.
Going further back, to teachers at MIT, I was ridiculously lucky. George Boolos,
JimHigginbotham,andRichardLarsoneachhadamajorimpactthatisreflectedin
severalchapters.AndnoversionofthisbookwouldexistifnotforNoamChomsky.
Itwillbeobviousthathisworkplaysacentralroleinmine,andthatseveralaspectsof
my proposal are due to him. Noam showed me a fruitful way of thinking about
philosophyoflanguageandlinguistics.Iamenormouslygratefulforthis,andforhis
generoussupport.Also,hisexamplesareprettygood.
In –, I went back to Cambridge as a fellow in the Mind, Brain, Behavior
program at Harvard. During a dream year there, I attended terrific lab meetings in
Psychology,taughtaseminarandmetwonderfulstudentsinPhilosophy,andworked
throughsomematerialthateventuallybecamechaptersinareadinggrouporganized
byCedricBoeckx—anearlysupporterofthisprojectandaconsistentlystimulating
lunchpartner—allwhilelivinginBoston’sNorthEnd(postBigDig)andgettingto
watchtheRedSoxwintheWorldSeriesagain.ThankstoMarcHauser,whomade
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
viii Preface
the visit possible, Susan Carey, Elizabeth Spelke, Bernhard Nickel, Susanna Siegel,
JakeBeck,andDennisOtt;thoughlistingmakesmesureI’mforgetting.
Betweenand,Ihadthechancetopresentnewerversionsoftheideasat
the Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics in Tromsø, the Language
ResearchGroupatDurhamUniversity,theCenterfortheStudyofMindinNaturein
Oslo, Beihang University in Beijing, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio
Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre. Thanks to the many who arranged for and partici-
pated in those extended discussions; special thanks to Peter Svenonius, Gillian
Ramchand,WolframHinzen,RobynCarston,FrancisLin,andAnaMariaTramunt
Ibanos. A more recent trip to the CSMN in Oslo was partly arranged by Terje
Lohndal, a former Maryland student who became a collaborator and friend. The
emergingconnectiontoNorwayhasbeenanunexpecteddelight.Theyeventurned
ontheAuroraBorealisonenightinTromsø.
In June of , I gave a series of “Context and Content” lectures at the Institut
Jean Nicod. Many thanks to François Recanati for the invitation and the conversa-
tions it led to with him and others, including Pierre Jacob, Philippe Schlenker, Kit
Fine,andwhoeverhappenedtobepassingthroughinagivenweek.I’venevergotten
throughfewerslides intalks,giventhediscussionsthatwouldbreakoutinthefirst
twominutes,orhadmorefunpresentingmaterial.Ifforcedtopickaplaceinwhich
this book was born, I would have to say it was Paris. Preparing the talks—in the
delightful apartment that François had suggested, or just wandering from one café
toanother—ledtoadraftthatItriedoutwiththeFoundationsofSemanticsGroup
at the University of Konstanz in . Thanks to Brendan Balcerak Jackson for
organizingthatvisitandaseriesofconversationsthatincludedMagdalenaBalcerak
Jackson and Irene Heim. Those experiences led to a revised draft, which was
subjected to trial by graduate seminar and eventually became a version that went
offtoOUP.
The help did not end there. Peter Momtchiloff, patient as always, sent the
manuscript to a pair of referees who together provided the most valuable reports
I have encountered. They were kind, encouraging, and just plain right about some
things that needed to be fixed. That led to a major rewrite, which took a while to
settle.JohnCollins,whodeservesaspecialcategory,offeredincisive,informed,and
intelligentcommentsatseveralstages.Thegraduatestudentphilosophyandlinguis-
tics group (PHLING) at Maryland provided valuable feedback on the penultimate
draftinthefallof,whenIwasabletodevotetimetogettingitfinished,thanksto
thegoodwillofmychairs,BillIdsardiandChrisMorris.
Moregenerally,theUniversityofMarylandprovided thedailysettingthatmade
thebookhappen.I’malsogratefulfor theoccasionalsabbaticalsupportthatletme
spendtimeelsewhere,includingafavoritespotinnorthernNewMexicowheremany
pageswerewritten.ButbeingatUMD,inlinguisticsandphilosophy,iswhatledtoall
this. The initial prompt was some seminars led by Norbert and Juan Uriagereka,
whose blackboard got well used while we talked in his office. Their students would
come into my office, wanting to know how semantics was related to Chomsky’s
minimalistprogram.Sowetalked.WhenHowardLasnikjoinedthegroup,watching
himteachsyntaxhelpedmeunderstandthesubjectinanewway.BeingatMaryland
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,15/3/2018,SPi
Preface ix
also allowed me to learn about psycholinguistics, on the job, by collaborating with
Stephen Crain and then Jeff Lidz. After meeting with Stephen to discuss the latest
experiments involving Kermit, Grover, and anaphoric dependence, I could go talk
withGeorgesRey—whoIhaveknownandadmiredsincemydaysingradschool—
aboutconceptionsofintentionality.
JeffconnectedmetoJustinHalberdaatJohnsHopkins;andthethreeofushave
spent a lot of time thinking together about how meanings are related to mental
representations. Our meetings and joint work have been deeply satisfying, intellec-
tuallyandpersonally,inwaysIcouldn’thaveimaginedwithoutJeffandJustin.They
andaseriesofamazingstudents—TimHunter,DarkoOdic,andAlexisWellwood—
helpedmeseehowexperimentaltoolsreallycould,giventherightteam,bebrought
tobearonoldquestionsaboutlogicallyequivalentlogicalforms.Inarelatedvein,Jeff
Horty’sworkonFregeplayedanimportantroleinmythinkingaboutlexicalization,
as did Peter Carruthers’ proposals about the role of the human language faculty in
integrating modules. Valentine Hacquard and Alexander Williams, colleagues in
semantics,weregreatconversationalpartnerswhoprovidedsympatheticearsalong
with needed doses of facts and skeptical questions. This book is very much a
Marylandproduct.
I can’t list all the students who helped by asking penetrating questions, and the
audiences who had me rethinking issues on the way home after presentations at
colloquiaorconferences.ButspecialmentionisduetoChrisVogel,whohelpedwith
the index and in other ways via many thoughtful discussions connected with his
dissertation.VisitstotheUniversityofArizonaturnedouttobeparticularlyvaluable;
thanks to Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini, for much over many years, and to Heidi
HarleyandTomBeverforconversationsinTucsonandMaryland.
ManyoftheideasinthisbookwerefirstpresentedinpublicatRutgersUniversity
incolloquia,orateventscausedbyErnieLepore.ImetErnieataconferencewhen
I was still teaching at McGill and just starting to write papers in philosophy of
language. He became a generous mentor and invited me to the initial philosophy/
linguistics workshops that he organized, back when they were small local affairs.
Throughthosegrowingsessions,Igottomeetorreconnectwithterrificphilosophers
andsemanticists,includingmanywhoIneedtothankforcommentsanddiscussions
thatledtomanydeletionsoferrorsandadditionsofgoodpoints:ZoltánSzabó,Jason
Stanley, Rich Larson, Peter Ludlow, Jim Higginbotham, Michael Glanzberg, Rob
Stainton,DavidBraun,StevenGross,ElisabethCamp,BobMatthews,FrankieEgan,
Kirk Ludwig, Thony Gillies, Roger Schwartzschild, Kai von Fintel, Veneeta Dayal,
Ken Safir, Barry Schein, and Barry Smith. The two Barrys, along with Ernie and
MartinDavies,havebeenespeciallyimportantinshapingmythinkingaboutDonald
Davidson’s project and its relevance for cognitive science. In terms of intellectual
influence,mydebttoJerryFodorishuge,aswillbeclearfromthetext.
I was an undergrad at Rutgers. So it has been a real treat to visit regularly, most
recentlyon the university’s thbirthday. (Another implication of my viewabout
linguistic meaning is that proper nouns like ‘Rutgers’—‘Barry’, ‘Balcerak Jackson’,
etc.—donothavedenotations,andthatit’snotmyjobtoworryaboutwhenmyalma
mater began.) I’m writing these words in a transitional phase, thrilled by knowing
