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    A speaker's intention figures into the overall function t... — Carmelics
    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    A speaker's intention figures into the overall function that determines the creation or maintenance of a linguistic convention

    Philosophy of Language
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.A speaker of a language is a member of the linguistic community in which the speaker speaks
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    • 2.An intention that 'S' means m involves a belief that 'S' means m (as Beardsley himself holds)
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    • 3.Linguistic convention is a function of overall community understanding, treatment, and belief
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Linguistic conventions are constituted by regularities in behavior and mutual expectation, not by the mental states that accompany or produce them (Lewis 1969).
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    • 2.A convention persists even when speakers act without any occurrent intention referencing it, as with automatic or habitual linguistic behavior.
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    • 3.Therefore, speaker intention is neither necessary nor sufficient to explain the creation or maintenance of convention.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Wittgenstein's rule-following argument establishes that meaning is fixed by public practice and training, not by any inner mental act of intending (Philosophical Investigations §§185-242).
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    • 2.If no private intention can by itself determine correct application of a rule, then intentions cannot be the operative factor in constituting linguistic convention.
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    Topics

    Philosophy of Language

    Related

    A convention persists even when speakers act without any occurrent intention ref...A speaker of a language is a member of the linguistic community in which the spe...An intention that 'S' means m involves a belief that 'S' means m (as Beardsley h...If no private intention can by itself determine correct application of a rule, t...
    +4 moreShow less
    Linguistic convention is a function of overall community understanding, treatmen...Linguistic conventions are constituted by regularities in behavior and mutual ex...Therefore, speaker intention is neither necessary nor sufficient to explain the ...Wittgenstein's rule-following argument establishes that meaning is fixed by publ...

    Similar

    Therefore, a speaker's intention is criterial for linguistic conventio...90%A linguistic convention is a function of overall community understandi...82%Speaker meaning is explained in terms of speaker intentions.79%A speaker's intention must be regarded as having some evidential weigh...77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: beardsley-aesthetics
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    Perhaps paradoxically, given what was just said, the counterexample also illustrates a more important claim, that a speaker’s intention that ‘S’ mean m is a criterion for its meaning m, or at least very nearly so. This is because: (1) linguistic convention is a criterion for token sentence meaning, and a linguistic convention, as the example shows, is a function of overall community understanding, treatment, and belief. (2) A speaker’s intention is one component in such understanding, treatment,
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit