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The common view in philosophy and linguistic semantics is that naturallanguage involves a great range of expressions that involve reference to abstract objects, such as properties, propositions, degrees, numbers,and expression types. This book argues that this view is mistaken: theontology of natural language at its core is particularist, involvingpervasive reference to various sorts of tropes (particularized properties) or trope-related entities, to pluralities (as many) of particulars, aswell as to 'variable objects'. In addition, expressions that appear to standfor abstract objects, the book argues, play in fact a nonreferential role. Only in the'periphery' of language, with 'reifying terms' such as the proposition that S, the fact that S, the property of being an N, the number eight, the word eight, and the truth value true, is reference to abstract objects possible.
This book investigates whether natural language fundamentally relies on reference to abstract objects or if its core ontology is instead composed of particularist entities. Friederike Moltmann, a philosopher and linguist, challenges the prevailing consensus that language is saturated with references to properties, propositions, and numbers. By analyzing the structure of natural language, she argues that these expressions are largely nonreferential, proposing instead that the core ontology consists of tropes, pluralities, and variable objects.
What You Will Find
Experts in the field of formal semantics and philosophy of language recognize this work as a significant challenge to standard referential theories. Readers frequently note the technical density of the prose, which requires a strong background in both linguistic theory and analytic philosophy to fully grasp the proposed ontological shifts.
Page Count:
256
Publication Date:
2013-05-19
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0199608741
ISBN-13:
9780199608744
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