Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Semantics: Semantics is the field of linguistics, which deals with the meaning of expressions, words, parts of words, sentences or signs. Aids for ascertaining the meaning are investigations of the use and the determination of the truth value (true or false) of the statements, which can be determined from the linguistic or action-like utterances. Therefore, semantic questions are ultimately truth questions. See also truth, reference, meaning, sense, semiology, signs, symbols, syntax, pragmatics, linguistics._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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J.R. Searle on Semantics - Dictionary of Arguments
I 236 Chinese room: semantics is not intrinsic to the syntax. >Syntax. - - - VI 205 Semantics/speech act theory/Searle: speech act theory is not an appendage, but encompasses everything that used to be called semantics and pragmatics. >Pragmatics, >speech act theory. - - - VII 100 Semantics/pragmatics/Searle: I have never found the distinction between pragmatics and semantics useful, as it requires a specific theory in the philosophy of language. VII 102 Language/Searle: without a coherent general theory of syntax and semantics, we have no way of distinguishing between features of utterances that are derived from particular words and features that are derived from other facts, e.g. from speech or syntactic syntax. VIII 419 Generative semantics/"Young Turks": thesis: according to this opinion (of Chomsky's students) there is no boundary between syntax and semantics and therefore no such entities as syntactic deep structures. ChomskyVs: syntax should be studied separately from semantics. (This is the heritage of structuralism). Searle: deep philosophical view: for Chomsky the human being is a syntactic living being, the brain is syntactically structured. The semantic function does not determine the form of syntax. Form is only casually related to function. VIII 420 Generative semantics/"Young Turks"VsChomsky: one of the decisive factors in the formation of syntactic structures is semantics. Even terms like "grammatically correct" or "well-formed sentence" require the introduction of semantic terms! Example: "He called him a Republican and insulted him". >Generative grammar. VIII 422 Young Turks: Ross, Postal, Lakoff, McCawley, Fillmore. Thesis: grammar begins with a description of the meaning of a sentence. Searle: if generative semantics is right and there are no syntactic deep structures, linguistics becomes even more interesting; we can then systematically investigate how form and function are connected. (Chomsky: there is no connection here!) >Young turks._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Searle I John R. Searle The Rediscovery of the Mind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1992 German Edition: Die Wiederentdeckung des Geistes Frankfurt 1996 Searle II John R. Searle Intentionality. An essay in the philosophy of mind, Cambridge/MA 1983 German Edition: Intentionalität Frankfurt 1991 Searle III John R. Searle The Construction of Social Reality, New York 1995 German Edition: Die Konstruktion der gesellschaftlichen Wirklichkeit Hamburg 1997 Searle IV John R. Searle Expression and Meaning. Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge/MA 1979 German Edition: Ausdruck und Bedeutung Frankfurt 1982 Searle V John R. Searle Speech Acts, Cambridge/MA 1969 German Edition: Sprechakte Frankfurt 1983 Searle VII John R. Searle Behauptungen und Abweichungen In Linguistik und Philosophie, G. Grewendorf/G. Meggle, Frankfurt/M. 1974/1995 Searle VIII John R. Searle Chomskys Revolution in der Linguistik In Linguistik und Philosophie, G. Grewendorf/G. Meggle, Frankfurt/M. 1974/1995 Searle IX John R. Searle "Animal Minds", in: Midwest Studies in Philosophy 19 (1994) pp. 206-219 In Der Geist der Tiere, D Perler/M. Wild, Frankfurt/M. 2005 |
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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-20