The Philosophy of Language

What is meaning? How is linguistic communication possible? What is the nature of language? What is the relationship between language and the world? How do metaphors work?The Philosophy of Language,Sixth Edition, is an excellent introduction to such fundamental questions. Incorporating insights from new coeditor David Sosa, the sixth edition collects forty-eight of the most important articles in the field, making it the most up-to-date and comprehensive volume on the subject. Revised to address changing trends and contemporary developments, the sixth edition features eighteen new articles, including influential work by Kent Bach, Paul Boghossian, M. A. E. Dummett, Delia Graff Fara, Hartry Field, H. P. Grice and P.F. Strawson, Carl G. Hempel, Saul Kripke, Benson Mates, Hilary Putnam, Diana Raffman, Nathan Salmon, Stephen Schiffer, John R. Searle, Roy Sorenson, David Sosa, Dennis Stampe, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. A general introduction and introductions to each section give students background to the issues and explain the connections between them. A bibliography of suggested further reading follows each section.

A. P. Martinich is Roy Allison Vaughn Centennial Professor in Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.

David Sosa is Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor in the Humanities and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.

Professors Martinich and Sosa are the coeditors of Analytic Philosophy: An Anthology, Second Edition (2011).

*=New to this Edition
Each section ends with Suggested Further Reading.
Note on the Sixth Edition
Introduction
I. NAMES
1. Of Names (1881), John Stuart Mill
2. On Sense and Reference (1892), Gottlob Frege
* 3. Proper Names (1958), John R. Searle
4. From Naming and Necessity (1972), Saul Kripke
5. Meaning and Reference (1973), Hilary Putnam
6. The Causal Theory of Names (1973), Gareth Evans
* 7. From Frege's Puzzle (1986), Nathan Salmon
II. DESCRIPTIONS
8. On Denoting (1905), Bertrand Russell
9. Descriptions (1919), Bertrand Russell
10. On Referring (1950), P. F. Strawson
11. Mr. Strawson on Referring (1957), Bertrand Russell
12. Reference and Definite Descriptions (1966), Keith Donnellan
* 13. Speaker's Reference and Semantic Reference (1977), Saul Kripke
III. ASCRIPTIONS
14. Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes (1956), W. V. Quine
15. Quantifying In (1968), David Kaplan
16. On Saying That (1968), Donald Davidson
* 17. Synonymity (1952), Benson Mates
18. A Puzzle about Belief (1979), Saul Kripke
* 19. The Import of the Puzzle about Belief (1996), David Sosa
* 20. Belief Ascription (1992), Stephen Schiffer
IV. COMMUNICATION
21. Meaning (1957), H. P. Grice
22. Performative Utterances (1961), J. L. Austin
23. The Structure of Illocutionary Acts (1969), John R. Searle
24. Logic and Conversation (1975), H. P. Grice
* 25. Conversational Impliciture (1994), Kent Bach
26. A Nice Derangment of Epitaphs (1985), Donald Davidson
V. TRUTH
27. The Thought: A Logical Inquiry (1918), Gottlob Frege
28. The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics (1944), Alfred Tarski
* 29. Tarski's Theory of Truth (1972), Hartry Field
30. Truth and Meaning (1967), Donald Davidson
* 31. What Is a Theory of Meaning? (1975), M. A. E. Dummett
VI. ANALYTICITY
32. Two Dogmas of Empiricism (1951), W. V. Quine
* 33. In Defense of a Dogma (1956), H.P. Grice and P.F. Strawson
* 34. "Two Dogmas" Revisited (1976), Hilary Putnam
VII. INDETERMINANCIES
Context
35. Assertion (1978), Robert Stalnaker
36. Demonstratives: An Essay on the Semantics, Logic, Metaphysics, and Epistemology of Demonstratives and Other Indexicals (1977), David Kaplan
37. The Problem of the Essential Indexical (1979), John Perry
Rule-Following
38. From On Rules and Private Language (1982), Saul Kripke
* 39. The Rule-Following Considerations (1989), Paul A. Boghossian
Vagueness
* 40. From Blindspots (1988), Roy Sorenson
* 41. Vagueness without Paradox (1994), Diana Raffman
* 42. Shifting Sands: An Interest-Relative Theory of Vagueness (2000), Delia Graff Fara
VIII. LANGUAGE
43. Of Words (1699), John Locke
* 44. From Philosophical Investigations (1953), Ludwig Wittgenstein
* 45. Empiricist Criteria of Cognitive Significance: Problems and Changes (1950), Carl G. Hempel
46. Languages and Language (1975), David Lewis
* 47. Toward a Causal Theory of Linguistic Representation (1977), Dennis W. Stampe
48. Language and Problems of Knowledge (1988), Noam Chomsky