Acts and Alternative Analyses
(2019) In The Journal of Philosophy 116(4). p.181-205- Abstract
- I show that the act-type theories of Soames and Hanks entail that every sentence with alternative analyses (including every atomic sentence with a polyadic predicate) is ambiguous, many of them massively so. I assume that act types directed toward distinct objects are themselves distinct, plus some standard semantic axioms, and infer that act-type theorists are committed to saying that ‘Mary loves John’ expresses both the act type of predicating [loving John] of Mary and that of predicating [being loved by Mary] of John. Since the two properties are distinct, so are the act types. Hence, the sentence expresses two propositions. I also discuss a non-standard “pluralist” act-type theory, as well as some retreat positions, which all come with... (More)
- I show that the act-type theories of Soames and Hanks entail that every sentence with alternative analyses (including every atomic sentence with a polyadic predicate) is ambiguous, many of them massively so. I assume that act types directed toward distinct objects are themselves distinct, plus some standard semantic axioms, and infer that act-type theorists are committed to saying that ‘Mary loves John’ expresses both the act type of predicating [loving John] of Mary and that of predicating [being loved by Mary] of John. Since the two properties are distinct, so are the act types. Hence, the sentence expresses two propositions. I also discuss a non-standard “pluralist” act-type theory, as well as some retreat positions, which all come with considerable problems. Finally, I extrapolate to a general constraint on theories of structured propositions, and find that Jeffrey King’s theory has the same unacceptable consequence as the act-type theory. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6d53849f-19c3-4122-82cb-86d45a8c1c3b
- author
- Båve, Arvid
LU
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- The Journal of Philosophy
- volume
- 116
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 181 - 205
- publisher
- Journal of Philosophy, Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85070446307
- ISSN
- 0022-362X
- DOI
- 10.5840/jphil2019116412
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 6d53849f-19c3-4122-82cb-86d45a8c1c3b
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-07 21:39:05
- date last changed
- 2023-05-02 04:02:05
@article{6d53849f-19c3-4122-82cb-86d45a8c1c3b, abstract = {{I show that the act-type theories of Soames and Hanks entail that every sentence with alternative analyses (including every atomic sentence with a polyadic predicate) is ambiguous, many of them massively so. I assume that act types directed toward distinct objects are themselves distinct, plus some standard semantic axioms, and infer that act-type theorists are committed to saying that ‘Mary loves John’ expresses both the act type of predicating [loving John] of Mary and that of predicating [being loved by Mary] of John. Since the two properties are distinct, so are the act types. Hence, the sentence expresses two propositions. I also discuss a non-standard “pluralist” act-type theory, as well as some retreat positions, which all come with considerable problems. Finally, I extrapolate to a general constraint on theories of structured propositions, and find that Jeffrey King’s theory has the same unacceptable consequence as the act-type theory.}}, author = {{Båve, Arvid}}, issn = {{0022-362X}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{4}}, pages = {{181--205}}, publisher = {{Journal of Philosophy, Inc.}}, series = {{The Journal of Philosophy}}, title = {{Acts and Alternative Analyses}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jphil2019116412}}, doi = {{10.5840/jphil2019116412}}, volume = {{116}}, year = {{2019}}, }