Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
Thought and World
There is an important family of semantic notions that we apply to thoughts and to the conceptual constituents of thoughts – as when we say that the thought that the universe is expanding is true. Thought and World presents a theory of the content of such notions. The theory is largely deflationary in spirit, in the sense that it represents a broad range of semantic notions – including the concept of truth – as being entirely free from substantive metaphysical and empirical presuppositions. At the same time, however, it takes seriously and seeks to explain the intuition that there is a metaphysi- cally or empirically “deep”relation (a relation of mirroring or semantic correspondence) linking thoughts to reality. Thus, the theory represents a kind of compromise between deflationism and the correspondence theory of truth. This book will appeal to students and professionals interested in the philosophy of logic and philosophy of language.
Christopher S. Hill is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
cambridge studies in philosophy General editor ernest sosa (Brown University) Advisory editors: jonathan dancy (University of Reading) john haldane (University of St. Andrews) gilbert harman (Princeton University) frank jackson (Australian National University) william g. lycan (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) sydney shoemaker (Cornell University) judith j. thomson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
Thought and World
An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence
CHRISTOPHER S. HILL
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org
C Christopher S. Hill 2002
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2002
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Typeface Bembo 10.5/13 pt. System LATEX2ε [TB]
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data available
ISBN 0 521 81484 7 hardback ISBN 0 521 89243 0 paperback
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
For my children Katrina Hill Jonathan Hill
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
Contents
Acknowledgments page xi
1 Introduction 1 2 Truth in the Realm of Thoughts 10 3 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Reconciling Deflationary Semantics with Correspondence Intuitions 38 4 Indexical Representation and Deflationary Semantics 58 5 Why Meaning Matters 89 6 Into the Wild Blue Yonder: Nondesignating Concepts, Vagueness, Semantic Paradox, and Logical Paradox 109
Notes 127 Index 147
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© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
Acknowledgments
My primary philosophical debt is to Anil Gupta. He has been outstand- ingly generous with his time and energy, placing his remarkable talents at my disposal whenever I have needed them. I have also benefited significantly from interactions with Barbara Abbott, Bradley Armour- Garb, Gordon Beavers, Anthony Brueckner, Robert Cummins, Marian David, Sandra Edwards, Hartry Field, Ivan Fox, Marcus Giaquinto, Allan Gibbard, Delia Graff, Jane Heal, Joel Katzav, Richard Lee, Vann McGee, Brian McLaughlin, Hugh Mellor, Edward Minar, Christopher Peacocke, Nathan Salmon, Thomas Senor, T. J. Smiley, Ernest Sosa, Paul Vincent Spade, James Spellman, Jamie Tappenden, and Timothy Williamson. Various portions of the book have served as the bases for colloquium talks at the University of Sheffield, the University of Cambridge, Rutgers University, St. Louis University, and the London School of Economics. The discussions on those occasions were both stimulating and illuminat- ing. In addition, I have profited from the discussion following a talk at a meeting of the American Philosophical Association. Anil Gupta and Ted Warfield gave me extensive comments on the penultimate version of the manuscript. Their advice has enabled me to avoid many sins, both of omission and commission. I have also been helped considerably by the comments of an anonymous referee for Cambridge University Press. My chief personal debts are of course to my family and friends, but I must also acknowledge the very considerable contributions to my welfare that have been made by my bicycle and by the flora and fauna of Kingston, Arkansas. Chapters 2 and 3 contain excerpts from two of my papers that ap- peared in Philosophical Studies (1999, 96/1, pp. 87–121; 2001, 104/3,
xi
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521814847 - Thought and World: An Austere Portrayal of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence Christopher S. Hill Frontmatter More information
pp. 291–321). I wish to thank Kluwer Academic Publishers for their kind permission to reprint this material, and also Stewart Cohen, the editor of Philosophical Studies, for his continuing support for my work. Finally, I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the University of Arkansas.
xii
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