Book Details

Meaning, Creativity, and the Partial Inscrutability of the Human Mind

By JULIUS M. MORAVCSIK (Author)

Price : ~~$25.00~~  $20.00
ISBN : 9781575864808
Page : 218
Year of Publication : 2016    Edition : 2
Publisher : CSLI PUBLICATIONS
Subject : PHILOSOPHY

mediamatics

Description :

This book criticizes current philosophy of language as having altered its focus without adjusting the needed conceptual tools. It develops a new theory of lexical meaning and a new conception of cognition—humans not as information-processing creatures but as primarily explanation and understanding-seeking creatures—with information processing as a secondary, derivative activity. Drawing on these theories of lexical meaning and cognition, Julius M. Moravcsik argues that the ability of humans to fully comprehend human understanding will always be partial. In this second edition, Moravcsik posits a new theory that emphasizes implicitness and context in communication. In this theory, language is presented as a dynamic system with built-in mechanisms for change and expansion, thus further supporting Moravcsik’s overarching thesis that human understanding will always be incomplete.

Julius M. Moravcsik (1931−2009) was professor of philosophy at Stanford University.

Content :

Preface

Introduction

Where Has the Philosophy of Language Gone Wrong?

Part I Why Natural Languages are Not and Should Not Be Represented as Formal Languages

1 Natural Languages Cannot Be Formal Languages: The Lexicon

2 Natural Languages Cannot Be Formal Languages: The Logical Structure

Part II The Lexicon, Explanations, and Productivity

3 Lexical Meanings as Explanatory Schemes

4 Key Issues in Theories of Language

Part III Explanation, the Productive Lexicon, and Limitations on Understanding Understanding

5 Homo sapiens = Homo explanans

6 Is the Human Mind Partially Inscrutable?