Pragmatist Semantics: A Use-Based Approach to Linguistic Representation

José L. Zalabardo presents a pragmatist account of the meaning grounds of central semantic discourses, arguing that procedures regulate acceptance and rejection and that the meaning of sentences is determined by their practical consequences. He rejects representationalist accounts and develops an account of the states of affairs that can serve as the meaning grounds for pragmatist sentences. The book concludes by suggesting that the meaning grounds of all our representational discourses might be ultimately pragmatist.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 04 May 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

José L. Zalabardo presents a pragmatic account of the grounding of central semantic discourses, encompassing ascriptions of truth, propositional attitudes, and meanings. He asserts that the procedures governing acceptance and rejection determine the meanings of these discourses. Zalabardo explores the application of the pragmatist template to ethical discourse, presenting it as an alternative to representationalist accounts. According to representationalist accounts, a sentence acquires its meaning through its association with the elements of the world it purports to represent. Zalabardo challenges this assumption by developing a version of the open-question argument. It is commonly believed that a declarative sentence cannot represent the world unless it possesses a representationalist meaning ground. Zalabardo rejects this notion, arguing that sentences with pragmatist meaning grounds can represent the world in precisely the same sense as sentences with representationalist meaning grounds. This necessitates the existence of states of affairs that the target sentences depict as obtaining. Zalabardo consequently develops an account of the nature of these states of affairs that can fulfill this role for sentences with pragmatist meaning grounds. In conclusion, Pragmatist Semantics suggests that the meaning grounds of all our representational discourses may ultimately be pragmatist.

Weight: 524g
Dimension: 19 x 163 x 241 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192874757