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    Classical semantics and inferentialism differ in their ex... — Carmelics
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    Classical semantics and inferentialism differ in their explanatory direction: classical semantics explains inference from representation, while inferentialism explains representation from inference.

    Truth & Knowledge
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    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.The classical semanticist begins with language-world representational relations and uses these to explain the truth conditions of sentences.
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    • 2.Truth conditions are then used to explain the difference between good and bad inferences.
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    • 3.The inferentialist begins with the distinction between good and bad inferences and uses this to explain representational relations.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Frege's logical semantics grounds inference validity in truth-preservation, yet his notion of 'sense' (Sinn) is itself constituted by inferential role, collapsing the dichotomy.
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    • 2.If representational content is partly individuated by inferential relations even within classical frameworks, the explanatory directions are not mutually exclusive but interdependent.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Quine's holism demonstrates that no sentence faces the tribunal of experience alone, meaning truth conditions cannot be assigned atomistically prior to inferential connections.
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    • 2.If truth conditions are only determinable holistically through inferential webs (as in 'Two Dogmas'), classical semantics presupposes inferential structure rather than grounding it.
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    Topics

    Philosophy of LanguageTruth & Knowledge

    Key Terms

    Explanatory direction(in philosophy of explanation)
    Which thing explains which—for example, whether intentions explain actions, or actions explain intentions.
    classical semantics(Contrasted with inferentialism)
    A semantic theory according to which subsentential expressions have representational relations to semantic contents that can be explained independently of sentence-level truth conditions, and from which truth conditions are then derived.
    inference(Nyāya epistemology)
    A component of epistemology in Nyāya philosophy; a veritable inference yields knowledge about the world and must have premises that are themselves known
    inferentialism(Contrasted with classical (representationalist) semantics)
    A semantic theory according to which the semantic properties of expressions are grounded in inferential relations, with sentences taking explanatory priority over subsentential expressions.
    representation(Schopenhauer's Kantian framework; the empirical/phenomenal side of reality)
    The world as it appears to a knowing subject; objects as they are given through the subject's cognitive forms
    semantics(Distinguished from metasemantics and pragmatics in Kaplan 1989)
    The domain that concerns the facts about what meanings words or phrases have.

    Related

    Frege's logical semantics grounds inference validity in truth-preservation, yet ...If representational content is partly individuated by inferential relations even...If truth conditions are only determinable holistically through inferential webs ...Quine's holism demonstrates that no sentence faces the tribunal of experience al...
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    The classical semanticist begins with language-world representational relations ...The inferentialist begins with the distinction between good and bad inferences a...

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: meaning
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    The classical semanticist begins with certain language-world representational relations, and uses these to explain the truth conditions of sentences; we can then go on to use these truth conditions to explain the difference between good and bad inferences. The inferentialist, by contrast, begins with the distinction between good and bad inferences, and tries to explain the representational relations which the classical semanticist takes as (comparatively) basic in inferentialist terms. (I say “c
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

    Truth conditions are then used to explain the difference between good and bad in...

    Similar

    The inferentialist begins with the distinction between good and bad in...83%Dynamic semantics is better characterized as an extension or generaliz...78%Inferentialism grounds semantic properties in inferential relations.78%The inferentialist cannot explain the semantic properties of singular ...77%
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