PHIL 415 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Illocutionary Act, Implicature, Formal Language
12 Jun 2018
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Relation: think about relevance
Relevance is tricky
Figuring out what is relevant can be fairly easy
We can tell whether a fact is relevant to a given question
EX: Knowing the weather relevant for what you wear
Implicature is in part how we use language
[Or maybe we use language to imply]
Semantic approaches are good for questions like: how do name work?
They are limited because the phenomenon of formal language, in ordinary ways of
speaking, must take into consideration the pragmatics. Otherwise you don’t have a
reasonable account of how language works (people dealing with pragmatics would say
this)
Wittgenstein wasn’t interested in theorizing in philosophies
His goal was to get us to not use theories
Theory of truth: is there anything more than that
We need a theory with how we actually do things with language
Semantics is the wrong tool for the job
Russell analyzes how it is that expressions refer or not refer to something
Strawson said that expressions doesn’t refer to anything – rather, they are used to refer to
something
By rules, we might mean different things
1. Regulative rules
We need rules. We are imposing regulations
EX: Traffic laws to minimize the number of car accidents
2. Constitutive rules (more interesting philosophically)
They don’t just govern something – they are constitutive of what it is
If you’re not observing the rules, you are not playing the game
EX: You wouldn’t pick up a soccer ball and run with it in the middle of a game
Not touching the soccer ball is a constitutive rule
…
Frege was primarily interested in the foundations of mathematics
All his work was to do logic, to do mathematics
Illocutionary force
We want ways of speaking where in speaking; we are making something happen or doing
something. In speaking the words, I am making them true in the act of saying them
How do we go from the occasion meaning from the literal meaning?
What’s needed is convention
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Document Summary
Figuring out what is relevant can be fairly easy. We can tell whether a fact is relevant to a given question. Ex: knowing the weather relevant for what you wear. Implicature is in part how we use language. They are limited because the phenomenon of formal language, in ordinary ways of speaking, must take into consideration the pragmatics. Otherwise you don"t have a reasonable account of how language works (people dealing with pragmatics would say this) His goal was to get us to not use theories. Theory of truth: is there anything more than that. We need a theory with how we actually do things with language. Semantics is the wrong tool for the job. Russell analyzes how it is that expressions refer or not refer to something. Strawson said that expressions doesn"t refer to anything rather, they are used to refer to something. By rules, we might mean different things: regulative rules.
