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    The phrase 'one hundred years ago' shifts the context of ... — Carmelics
    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    The phrase 'one hundred years ago' shifts the context of utterance for expressions within its scope

    Philosophy of Language
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.In the sentence 'One hundred years ago, the second-largest city in the United States was Chicago', the description 'the second-largest city in the United States' refers to the city it would have referred to if uttered one hundred years ago
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    • 2.This reference shift is triggered by the temporal operator 'one hundred years ago'
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Kaplan's formal semantics distinguishes context of utterance (fixed at time of speech) from circumstance of evaluation (shiftable by operators).
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    • 2.Temporal operators like 'one hundred years ago' shift the circumstance of evaluation, not the context, leaving indexical content anchored to the actual utterance time.
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    • 3.Therefore, 'the second-largest city' is a definite description evaluated at a past time, not an expression whose context has shifted.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.On a Russellian analysis, 'the second-largest city in the United States' is a quantificational description, not a directly referential term sensitive to context of utterance.
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    • 2.Quantificational descriptions take wide or narrow scope relative to temporal operators without requiring any shift in the context of utterance itself.
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    • 3.The observed temporal relativity of the description's satisfaction conditions is fully explained by scope interaction, making context-shift an unnecessary and theoretically costly posit.
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    Topics

    Philosophy of Language

    Connections

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    Truth & Knowledge1 linked

    Related

    In the sentence 'One hundred years ago, the second-largest city in the United St...Kaplan's formal semantics distinguishes context of utterance (fixed at time of s...On a Russellian analysis, 'the second-largest city in the United States' is a qu...Quantificational descriptions take wide or narrow scope relative to temporal ope...
    +4 moreShow less
    Temporal operators like 'one hundred years ago' shift the circumstance of evalua...The observed temporal relativity of the description's satisfaction conditions is...Therefore, 'the second-largest city' is a definite description evaluated at a pa...This reference shift is triggered by the temporal operator 'one hundred years ag...

    Similar

    Sentences containing temporal operators like 'In 100 years' shift the ...83%This reference shift is triggered by the temporal operator 'one hundre...80%The phrase refers to Los Angeles with respect to the present state of ...80%When a speaker utters 'In 100 years, I will be dead', 'I' refers to th...77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: meaning
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    This sentence is true. But for it to be true, “the second-largest city in the United States” would have to, in (11), refer to Chicago. But then it seems like this expression must be an indexical—its reference must depend on the context of utterance. In (11), the thought goes, the phrase “one hundred years ago” shifts the context: in (11), “the second-largest city in the United States” refers to that city that it would have referred to if uttered one hundred years ago.
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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