Abstract Objects and the Semantics of Natural Language
1st Edition
Published on 1. February 2013
255 pages
978-0-19-164995-0 (ISBN)
Description
Friederike Moltmann presents an original approach to philosophical issues to do with abstract objects. She focuses on natural language, and finds that reference to abstract objects such as properties, numbers, and propositions is much more restricted than is generally thought, and she offers a substantially new ontological picture.
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Friederike Moltmann
Abstract Objects and the Semantics of Natural Language
Book
03/2013
Oxford University Press
€119.60
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Content
- Cover
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. Reference to Universals and Plural Reference to Particulars
- 1. Two kinds of terms for universals
- 2. The kind term behavior of bare adjective nominalizations
- 3. Kind terms and kind-referring terms
- 3.1. Kinds as objects of reference
- 3.2. Properties and kinds of tropes
- 3.3. Tropes and kinds of tropes
- 3.4. Other kind terms
- 4. Terms for instances and terms for universals
- 5. Kind reference
- 5.1. Making sense of kind reference
- 5.2. The problems with reference to kinds
- 6. A plural-reference account of kind terms
- 6.1. The semantics of definite plurals: reference to a plurality or plural reference?
- 6.2. Plural reference
- 6.3. Modalized plural reference
- 7. The semantics of explicit property-referring terms
- 2. Reference to Tropes and the Ontology of Tropes
- 1. Tropes in philosophy
- 1.1. The recent philosophical tradition
- 1.2. Tropes in the history of philosophy
- 1.3. Tropes and contemporary semantic theory
- 2. Characteristic properties of tropes and their reflection in natural language
- 2.1. Tropes as causal relata
- 2.2. Similarity relations
- 2.3. Bearer dependence
- 2.4. The problem of the spatio-temporal location of tropes
- 2.5. Further properties of concreteness
- 3. Quantitative tropes and number tropes
- 3.1. Evidence for quantitative tropes
- 3.2. The arithmetical behavior of number tropes
- 4. Variable tropes and the notion of a variable object
- 5. Tropes and the semantics of adjectives
- 6. Challenges to standard trope theory: the gradability of adjectives
- 6.1. Gradable adjectives
- 6.2. Positive and absolute nominalizations
- 7. Tropes and events
- 7.1. Semantic parallels between tropes and events
- 7.2. Tropes as an ontological category comprising events
- 8. Sketch of an ontological account of facts and states
- Appendix: Tropes and events as truthmakers
- 3. The Semantics of Special Quantifiers in Predicate Position
- 1. Non-Objectual and Abstract Meaning Theories of special quantifiers
- 1.1. The Non-Objectual Theory
- 1.2. The Abstract Meaning Theory
- 2. The Nominalization Theory of special quantifiers
- 3. Special nouns
- 4. Conclusion
- 4. Propositions and Attitudinal Objects
- 1. Semantic motivations for propositions and the Relational Analysis of attitude reports
- 2. Conceptual problems for propositions
- 3. Empirical problems for propositions
- 3.1. The Substitution Problem
- 3.2. The Objectivization Effect
- 4. Attitudinal objects
- 4.1. Characteristic properties of attitudinal objects
- 4.2. Differences between attitudinal objects and mental or illocutionary events
- 4.3. Kinds of attitudinal objects
- 5. Attitudinal objects and special quantifiers in sentential position
- 6. A neo-Russellian analysis of attitude reports
- 6.1. Intentional predication and the Russellian Multiple Relations Analysis
- 6.2. Complex sentences
- 6.3. Other sentence-embedding predicates
- 6.4. Empirical evidence for the neo-Russellian view: plural terms for propositional contents
- 7. The ontology of attitudinal objects
- 8. The semantics of terms for attitudinal objects
- 9. The semantics of special quantifiers in sentential position
- 10. Cognate objects and special quantifiers
- 11. That-clauses and measure phrases
- 12. Conclusion
- 5. Intensional Transitive Verbs and their "Objects"
- 1. Intensional transitive verbs and special quantifiers
- 1.1. Verbs of absence and verbs of possession
- 1.2. Epistemic verbs
- 1.3. Verbs of nomination
- 2. The Relational Analysis of intensional transitive verbs
- 3. The Nominalization Theory of special quantifiers with intensional transitive verbs
- 3.1. Evidence for the Nominalization Theory
- 3.2. Apparent problems for the Nominalization Theory
- 3.3. Extensional and intensional verbs sharing their object
- 3.4. Two intensional verbs sharing their object
- 4. A semantic analysis of intensional transitive verbs with special quantifiers
- 5. Explicit reference to variable satisfiers
- 6. Other intensional transitive verbs
- 6.1. Verbs of representation
- 6.2. Perception verbs
- 7. Conclusion
- 6. Reifying Terms
- 1. The general structure and semantics of reifying terms
- 2. Linguistic properties of reifying terms
- 3. The referentiality of reifying terms
- 4. Expression-referring terms and quotation
- 5. Number-referring terms and simple numerals
- 5.1. Mathematical and non-mathematical properties
- 5.2. The Adjectival Strategy
- 5.3. Explicit number-referring terms
- 6. Color-referring terms
- 7. Syntactic indicators for quasi-referential terms
- 7.1. Replacement by special quantifiers
- 7.2. Syntactic peculiarities of quasi-referential terms
- 8. Conclusion
- Conclusion and Outlook
- References
- Author Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- V
- W
- Y
- Z
- General Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- I
- K
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
