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Åbo Akademi University Press | ISBN 978-951-765-798-3 ÅboÅbo ÅboAkademi Akademi Akademi University University University Press Press Press | ISBN | ISBN | ISBN 978-951-765-798-3 978-951-765-798-3 978-951-765-798-3 Yrsa Neuman, b. 1975, Master of Philosophy (Åbo Akademi University) 2003, Licentiate of Philosophy (Åbo Akademi University) 2010. Cover design: Esko Schmitz Photo: Henrik Serup Christensen Åbo Akademi University Press Tavastgatan 13, FI-20500 Åbo, Finland Tel. +358 (0)2 215 3478 E-mail: [email protected] Sales and distribution: Åbo Akademi University Library Domkyrkogatan 2–4, FI-20500 Åbo, Finland Tel. +358 (0)2 -215 4190 E-mail: [email protected] STANDING BEFORE A SENTENCE Standing Before a Sentence Moore’s Paradox and a Perspective from Within Language Yrsa Neuman Åbo Akademis förlag | Åbo Akademi University Press Åbo, Finland, 2015 CIP Cataloguing in Publication Neuman, Yrsa. Standing before a sentence : Moore’s paradox and a perspective from within language / Yrsa Neuman. - Åbo : Åbo Akademi University Press, 2015. Diss.: Åbo Akademi University. ISBN 978-951-765-798-3 ISBN 978-951-765-798-3 ISBN 978-951-765-799-0 (digital) Painosalama Oy Åbo 2015 Table of Contents 1 Standing Before a Sentence .................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context as supplement .................................................................................... 6 1.2 Indeterminacy of meaning .............................................................................. 9 1.3 Preliminaries of a User Perspective ............................................................. 12 1.4 User Perspective: Background ..................................................................... 17 2 What Context Might Be ........................................................................................ 25 2.1 Wittgenstein’s conception of nonsense ...................................................... 29 2.2 Sentences, sense, and context of use ........................................................... 36 2.3 Nonsense and method ................................................................................... 40 2.4 Are Diamond and Hertzberg doing philosophy of language? ................. 46 2.5 Logically recognizable employment ............................................................ 50 2.6 An application: Nonsense in the Tractatus .................................................. 58 2.6.1 Counter-evidence ........................................................................................ 64 2.6.2 A conception of nonsense at all? .............................................................. 67 2.6.3 How should these inconsistencies be dealt with? ................................... 69 2.7 Concluding remarks ....................................................................................... 74 3 A Wasp’s Nest: Moore and Moore’s Paradox ................................................... 77 3.1. Moore’s paradox – early days ...................................................................... 82 3.2 Moore’s solution to the paradox .................................................................. 89 3.3 A special kind of implication ........................................................................ 94 3.4 “A given proposition” and the package theory ......................................... 97 3.5 Concluding words ........................................................................................101 4 Moore’s Paradox and the Pragmatics of Language .........................................103 4.4 A pre-pragmatic solution ............................................................................105 4.4.1 Illocutionary acts as philosophically illuminating .................................109 4.4.2 The principle of expressibility .................................................................112 4.4.3 The sincerity condition as a solution to the paradox ...........................115 4.5 Critique of ”expression” of belief as a mental state ................................117 4.5.1 Solutions and philosophical premises ................................................... 122 4.5.2 Language as a rule-governed activity ..................................................... 129 4.5.3 De re, not de dicto – Searle on the “use theory” ................................ 131 4.6 A preliminary conclusion ........................................................................... 136 4.7 Formalist solutions: sentence schema and logical form ........................ 136 4.7.1 The usability argument ............................................................................ 146 4.8 Longing for a solution ................................................................................ 149 4.9 Concluding remarks .................................................................................... 151 5 The Moorean Sentence in a User Perspective ................................................ 153 5.1 A Wittgensteinian view? ............................................................................. 156 5.2 The grammar of belief ................................................................................ 161 5.2.1 Assertions express beliefs ....................................................................... 161 5.2.2 The expectation of grammatical symmetry .......................................... 165 5.3 The relation between the first and the third person ............................... 169 5.4 The non-conjunction .................................................................................. 179 5.5 Grammar and logical grammar .................................................................. 185 5.6 Variations in a user perspective ................................................................. 186 5.6.1 The constitution