Prospects for an Expressivist Theory of Meaning
Philosophers' Imprint 15:1-43 (2015)
Abstract
Advocates of Expressivism about basically any kind of language are best-served by abandoning a traditional content-centric approach to semantic theorizing, in favor of an update-centric or dynamic approach (or so this paper argues). The type of dynamic approach developed here — in contrast to the content-centric approach — is argued to yield canonical, if not strictly classical, "explanations" of the core semantic properties of the connectives. (The cases on which I focus most here are negation and disjunction.) I end the paper by describing a distinctive sense in which mental states might play a fundamental role in the practice of semantic theorizing (as I understand it), and I connect this to a distinctive account of the pragmatic function of, e.g., a normatively laden claim in discourse.
Categories
(categorize this paper)
PhilPapers/Archive ID
CHAPFA-2
Revision history
Archival date: 2015-09-03
View upload history
View upload history

The Problem with the Frege–Geach Problem.Nate Charlow - 2014 - Philosophical Studies 167 (3):635-665.
Logic and Semantics for Imperatives.Nate Charlow - 2014 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 43 (4):617-664.
Decision Theory: Yes! Truth Conditions: No!Nate Charlow - 2016 - In Nate Charlow Matthew Chrisman (ed.), Deontic Modality. Oxford University Press.
Conditional Preferences and Practical Conditionals.Nate Charlow - 2013 - Linguistics and Philosophy 36 (6):463-511.
View all 6 references / Add more references

Speech Acts: The Contemporary Theoretical Landscape.Daniel W. Harris, Daniel Fogal & Matt Moss - forthcoming - In Daniel Fogal, Matt Moss & Daniel Harris (eds.), New Work on Speech Acts. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Content in a Dynamic Context.Stojnić, Una
Dynamic Expressivism About Deontic Modality.Starr, William B.
Expressivism, Meaning, and All That.Köhler, Sebastian
Expressivism by Force.Yalcin, Seth
View all 8 citations / Add more citations
Added to PP index
2015-09-03
Total downloads
989 ( #1,454 of 37,105 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
179 ( #1,605 of 37,105 )
2015-09-03
Total downloads
989 ( #1,454 of 37,105 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
179 ( #1,605 of 37,105 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Monthly downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks to external links.