A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, 2 Volume Set

“Providing up-to-date, in-depth coverage of the central question, and written and edited by some of the foremost practitioners in the field, this timely new edition will no doubt be a go-to reference for anyone with a serious interest in the philosophy of language.”

Kathrin Glüer-Pagin, Stockholm University

Now published in two volumes, the second edition of the best-selling Companion to the Philosophy of Language provides a complete survey of contemporary philosophy of language. The Companion has been greatly extended and now includes a monumental 17 new essays – with topics chosen by the editors, who curated suggestions from current contributors – and almost all of the 25 original chapters have been updated to take account of recent developments in the field.

In addition to providing a synoptic view of the key issues, figures, concepts, and debates, each essay introduces new and original contributions to ongoing debates, as well as addressing a number of new areas of interest, including two-dimensional semantics, modality and epistemic modals, and semantic relationism. The extended “state-of-the-art” chapter format allows the authors, all of whom are internationally eminent scholars in the field, to incorporate original research to a far greater degree than competitor volumes. Unrivaled in scope, this volume represents the best contemporary critical thinking relating to the philosophy of language.

Bob Hale is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sheffield. He is a member of the editorial board of Philosophia Mathematica, and is author of Abstract Objects (Blackwell, 1987) and Necessary Beings (2013; revised 2nd edn, 2015); co-editor of Reading Putnam (with Peter Clark; Blackwell, 1994), The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Language (with Crispin Wright; Blackwell, 1997), and Modality: Metaphysics, Logic, and Epistemology (with Aviv Hoffmann, 2010); and co-author of The Reason's Proper Study (with Crispin Wright, 2001).

Crispin Wright is Professor of Philosophy at New York University and Professor of Philosophical Research at the University of Stirling. His books include Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics (1980), Frege's Conception of Numbers as Objects (1983), Truth and Objectivity (1992), Realism, Meaning and Truth (2nd edn, 1993), The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Language (with Bob Hale, Blackwell, 1997), The Reason's Proper Study (with Bob Hale, 2001), Rails to Infinity (2001), and Saving the Differences (2003).

Alexander Miller is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His publications include Contemporary Metaethics: An Introduction Revised and Expanded (2nd edn, 2013), Philosophy of Language Revised and Expanded (2nd edn, 2007), and Rule-Following and Meaning (with Crispin Wright, 2002).

Volume I

List of Contributors viii

Preface to the Second Edition xv

Preface to the First Edition xvi

Part I Meaning and Theories of Meaning 1

1 Metaphysics, Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Language 3
Michael Morris

2 Meaning and Truth‐Conditions: From Frege’s Grand Design to Davidson’s 27
David Wiggins

3 Intention and Convention in the Theory of Meaning 49
Stephen Schiffer

4 Meaning, Use, Verification 73
John Skorupski
Postscript: Bernhard Weiss

5 Semantics and Pragmatics 107
Guy Longworth

6 Pragmatics 127
Charles Travis
Postscript: Charles Travis

7 On the Linguistic Status of Context Sensitivity 151
John Collins

8 A Guide to Naturalizing Semantics 174
Barry Loewer
Postscript: Peter Schulte

9 Inferentialism 197
Julien Murzi and Florian Steinberger

10 Against Harmony 225
Ian Rumfitt

11 Meaning and Privacy 250
Edward Craig
Postscript: Guy Longworth

12 Tacit Knowledge 272
Alexander Miller

13 Radical Interpretation 299
Jane Heal
Postscript: Alexander Miller

14 Propositional Attitudes 324
Mark Richard

15 Holism 357
Christopher Peacocke

16 Metaphor 375
Richard Moran
Postscript: Andrew McGonigal

17 Conditionals 401
Anthony S. Gillies

18 Generics 437
Bernhard Nickel

19 Deflationist Theories of Truth, Meaning, and Content 463
Stephen Schiffer

Volume II

Part I L anguage, Truth, and Reality 491

20 Realism and its Oppositions 493
Bob Hale
Postscript: Bernhard Weiss

21 Theories of Truth 532
Ralph C. S. Walker
Postscript: Michael P. Lynch

22 Truthmaker Semantics 556
Kit Fine

23 Analyticity 578
Paul Artin Boghossian
Postscript: Paul Artin Boghossian

24 Rule‐Following, Objectivity, and Meaning 619
Bob Hale
Postscript: Daniel Wee

25 The Normativity of Meaning 649
Anandi Hattiangadi

26 Indeterminacy of Translation 670
Crispin Wright
Postscript: Alexander Miller

27 Putnam’s Model‐Theoretic Argument against Metaphysical Realism 703
Bob Hale and Crispin Wright
Postscript: Jussi Haukioja

28 Sorites 734
Mark Sainsbury and Timothy Williamson
Postscript: Aidan McGlynn

29 Time and Tense 765
Berit Brogaard

30 Relativism 787
Patrick Shirreff and Brian Weatherson

Part II Reference, Identity, and Necessity 805

31 Modality 807
Bob Hale
Postscript: Bob Hale

32 Relativism about Epistemic Modals 843
Andy Egan

33 Internalism and Externalism 865
Jussi Haukioja

34 Essentialism 881
Graeme Forbes
Postscript: Penelope Mackie

35 Reference and Necessity 902
Robert Stalnaker

36 Names and Rigid Designation 920
Jason Stanley

37 Two‐Dimensional Semantics 948
Christian Nimtz

38 The Semantics and Pragmatics of Indexicals 970
John Perry

39 Objects and Criteria of Identity 990
E. J. Lowe
Postscript: Harold Noonan

40 Relative Identity 1013
Harold Noonan

41 De Jure Codesignation 1033
James Pryor

Glossary 1080

Index 1117

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.