Meaning Diminished: Toward Metaphysically Modest Semantics

221 Pages·2019·1.374 MB·English

by  Kenneth Allen Taylor

OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/3/2019,SPi
Meaning Diminished
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/3/2019,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/3/2019,SPi
Meaning Diminished
Toward Metaphysically Modest
Semantics
Kenneth A. Taylor
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/3/2019,SPi
3
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©KennethA.Taylor2019
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/3/2019,SPi
This book is dedicated to my amazing parents,
Sam and Seretha Taylor, in abiding gratitude
for their constant and loving affirmation
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/3/2019,SPi
Contents
Preface ix
1. SemanticAnalysisandMetaphysicalInquiry 1
2. TheMetaphysicalModestyofNarrowlyLinguistic
Semantics 18
3. TheWayofIdeasandtheWayofReference 38
4. SomeConsiderationsagainsttheWayofIdeas 76
5. ModestyasIncompleteness:FeatureorBug? 105
6. AgainsttheMetaphysicalTransparencyof
SemanticAdicity 123
7. MetaphysicalEmbarrassment,Indefinite
Modifiability,andRulesofUse 142
8. Conclusion:AWayForwardinSemantics
andMetaphysics 164
WorksCited 179
Index 187
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Preface
This book was something of an accident. It began its life not as a
book, but as one section of a medium-sized chapter in an entirely
differentbook—mybookinprogress—ANaturalHistoryofNorma-
tive Consciousness. Gradually, it began to take on a life of its own.
That is because my original ambition for this material was rather
modest. I had hoped to briefly explain and justify the paucity of
semantic theorizing about normative language and thought con-
tained within A Natural History of Normative Consciousness. No
doubt, the semantic analysis of normative thought and talk is a
fascinating enough topic and very much worth exploring in its own
right.Itiscertainlythefocusofmuchmeta-normativetheorizing.But
whenpursuedasawayofgettingatthecorrectmetaphysicsofthings
normative,Iconfessthatsemanticanalysishasalwaystendedtoleave
me rather cold. Let the semantics of normative language be what it
will, I have come to believe, that does very little to settle the correct
metaphysics of things normative. I had hoped in part of an early
chapterofA NaturalHistoryofNormativeConsciousnessto demon-
stratethatmyaversiontowhatIsawasamisguidedapproachtothe
metaphysics of normativity is more than a matter of idiosyncratic
personal philosophical taste, but is rooted in sound, defensible, and
principled views about the nature and limits of semantic inquiry,
especially in relation to metaphysical inquiry. Since my chief aim
for the envisioned half chapter was not to have an elaborate and
potentiallydistractingargumentoverphilosophicalmethodology,but
mainly to clear the ground for the task of getting on with the
metaphysics of things normative, I had hoped to state my reasons
formostlyignoringsemanticissuesaboutnormativethoughtandtalk
inrathershortcompass.
Forbetterorforworse,ANaturalHistoryofNormativeConscious-
ness evolved into a rather large and unwieldy thing. Its projected