Linguistic Intentions
Indrek Reiland (University of Vienna)

05 November 2021, 16:00 (Lisbon Time – GMT+1) | Sala Mattos Romão (Departamento de Filosofia)

Abstract: What is the proper role of intention in a theory of linguistic meaning? On individualist views (Davidson, Bilgrami), meaning intentions have a direct role in imbuing uses of words with particular meanings. In this talk, I will approach the question from the contrasting public language perspective (Austin, Dummett, Kaplan, Lewis etc.) with the aim of explaining why we still have to appeal to something like linguistic intentions. Intentions play a very different role on this view: they activate the meaning that words already have in a particular language and thereby make it the case that the speaker’s use is a use with a particular meaning in that language. These sorts of linguistic intentions also play a role in disambiguation. However, contrary to widespread recent opinion, I will argue that they do not play a role in determining the reference of context-sensitive expressions. That is not settled by intention at all.

The room has a limited number of seats. Pre-registration is required at <c.filosofia@letras.ulisboa.pt> until a day before the event. Note that this is an in-person event and everyone should wear a mask.