Meanings as Species

According to Mark Richard, a word's meaning is similar to the biological lineages we refer to as species. He contends that a word's meaning is the set of presumptions that its users assume when using it and that their listeners expect them to recognize. Meaning is something that is passed down through a population from one generation of speakers to the next, evolving as speakers interact with their environment. Richard supports Quine's ideas about analyticity while maintaining that thinking of meanings as species does not make talk about meaning theoretically useless. He also explores the connections between a word's meaning as what the competent speaker knows, as the determiner of reference and truth conditions, and as what determines what sentence uses say.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 05 August 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Mark Richard presents an original perspective on the concept of meaning, suggesting that a word's meaning can be likened to the biological lineages we refer to as species. His central thesis revolves around the idea that a word's meaning, in the context of what one must grasp to be a proficient speaker, encompasses the assumptions that its users make when employing it and anticipate their listeners to recognize as being made. Meaning, in this sense, is a dynamic entity that permeates a population, is inherited by each new generation of speakers, and undergoes evolution as the understanding of what constitutes a meaning shifts in response to the interactions between speakers and their linguistic and social environment.

Meanings as Species delves into the analogy between the biological and linguistic realms, exploring the ways in which meaning changes and evolves. It discusses the senses in which these processes resemble and diverge from the mechanisms of natural selection. Richard argues that viewing meanings as species aligns with Quine's insights into analyticity, while still maintaining the usefulness of discussing meaning theoretically. He also examines the relationships between meaning as what the competent speaker knows about their language, meaning as the determinant of reference and truth conditions, and meaning qua what determines the sentence structures that speakers employ.

This book offers insightful discussions on a diverse array of topics within the philosophy of language, including: the interplay between meaning and philosophical analysis, the endeavor of conceptual engineering, the varying senses in which meaning can be composed, the extent to which referential meaning remains indeterminate, and what this indeterminacy might reveal about propositional attitudes such as belief and assertion. By exploring these themes, Meanings as Species provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking exploration of the complex and multifaceted nature of meaning in language and its philosophical implications.

Weight: 354g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192848376