PHIL 1504 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Denotation, Hobbit, Ordinary Language Philosophy
10 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Ordinary language serves a wide variety of functions. Terminology that conveys factual information has a cognitive meaning. Terminology that expresses or evokes feelings has an emotive. Ex: texas has executed more inmates than any other state. Emotionally charged statements tend to have both forms of meaning. Ex: death penalty is cruel and inhumane form of punishment. Claims that something is right/wrong, good/bad, important/not important. Two ways in which the cognitive meaning of a term can be defective. Allow for a continuous range of interpretations. Ex: who counts as tall? most students are tall compared to a hobbit, but not compared to your average nba player . Ambigious expressions are those that can be interpreted as having more than one clearly distinct meaning in a given context. Ex: a light beer may be light in taste, color, or calories. What the fact of the matter is.
