Oxford University Press, USA
Mental Files
Mental Files
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Francois Recanati presents his theory of mental files, a new way of understanding reference in language and thought. He aims to recast the nondescriptivist approach to reference that has dominated the philosophy of language and mind in the late twentieth century. According to Recanati, we
refer through mental files, which play the role of so-called modes of presentation. The reference of linguistic expressions is inherited from that of the files we associate with them. The reference of a file is determined relationally, not satisfactionally: so a file is not to be equated to the
body of (mis)information it contains. Files are like singular terms in the language of thought, with a nondescriptivist semantics. In contrast to other philosophers, Recanati offers an indexical model according to which files are typed by their function, which is to store information derived through certain types of relation to objects in the environment. The type of the file corresponds to the type of contextual relation it
exploits. Even detached files or encyclopedia entries are based on epistemically rewarding relations to their referent, on Recanati's account. Among the topics discussed in this wide-ranging book are: acquaintance relations and singular thought; cognitive significance; the vehicle/content distinction; the nature of indexical concepts; co-reference de jure and judgments of identity; cognitive dynamics; recognitional and perceptual concepts;
confused thought and the transparency requirement on modes of presentation; descriptive names and acquaintanceless singular thought; the communication of indexical thoughts; two-dimensional defences of Descriptivism; the Generality Constraint; attitude ascriptions and the vicarious use of mental
files; first-person thinking; token-reflexivity in language and thought.
Author: Francois Recanati
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/06/2013
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780199659999
refer through mental files, which play the role of so-called modes of presentation. The reference of linguistic expressions is inherited from that of the files we associate with them. The reference of a file is determined relationally, not satisfactionally: so a file is not to be equated to the
body of (mis)information it contains. Files are like singular terms in the language of thought, with a nondescriptivist semantics. In contrast to other philosophers, Recanati offers an indexical model according to which files are typed by their function, which is to store information derived through certain types of relation to objects in the environment. The type of the file corresponds to the type of contextual relation it
exploits. Even detached files or encyclopedia entries are based on epistemically rewarding relations to their referent, on Recanati's account. Among the topics discussed in this wide-ranging book are: acquaintance relations and singular thought; cognitive significance; the vehicle/content distinction; the nature of indexical concepts; co-reference de jure and judgments of identity; cognitive dynamics; recognitional and perceptual concepts;
confused thought and the transparency requirement on modes of presentation; descriptive names and acquaintanceless singular thought; the communication of indexical thoughts; two-dimensional defences of Descriptivism; the Generality Constraint; attitude ascriptions and the vicarious use of mental
files; first-person thinking; token-reflexivity in language and thought.
Author: Francois Recanati
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/06/2013
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780199659999
About the Author
Francois Recanati is the Director of Institut Jean-Nicod in Paris. He is the author of Perspectival Thought (OUP, 2007), Truth-Conditional Pragmatics (OUP, 2010), and many other publications in the philosophy of language and mind.
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