Alex Barber
Biographic Data
| ID | 1239819 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alex Barber |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alex |
| FAMILY NAME | Barber |
| SIGNATURE | BARBER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Open University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1108-1072 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Freedom of expression meets deepfakes
Would suppressing deepfakes violate freedom of expression norms? The question is pressing because the deepfake phenomenon in its more poisonous manifestations appears to call for a response, and automated targeting of some kind looks to be the most practically viable. Two simple answers are rejected: that deepfakes do not deserve protection under freedom of expression legislation because they are fake by definition; and that deepfakes can be targ…
Linguistic Prescriptivism
Alex Barber and Robert Stainton grapple with the issue of whether there really is a plausible and non-trivial notion of linguistic prescriptivism that might characterize the attitudes of people commonly associated with the view. They argue that we should drop the notion in favour of “language norming” (which is intended to include paradigm instances of ameliorative projects as well as injunctions not to split infinitives) and then argue that some…
Experimental Philosophy of Language
Experimental philosophy of language uses experimental methods developed in the cognitive sciences to investigate topics of interest to philosophers of language. This article describes the methodological background for the development of experimental approaches to topics in philosophy of language, distinguishes negative and positive projects in experimental philosophy of language, and evaluates experimental work on the reference of proper names an…
Understanding as Knowledge of Meaning
Testimony, the transmission of knowledge through communication, requires a shared understanding of linguistic expressions and utterances of them. Is this understanding itself a kind of knowledge, knowledge of meaning? The intuitive answer is 'yes', but the nature of such knowledge is controversial, as is the assumption that understanding is a kind of knowledge at all. This article is a critical examination of recent work on the nature and role of…
Hedonism and the Experience Machine
Money isn’t everything, so what is? Many government leaders, social policy theorists, and members of the general public have a ready answer: happiness. This paper examines an opposing view due to Robert Nozick, which centres on his experience-machine thought experiment. Despite the example's influence among philosophers, the argument behind it is riddled with difficulties. Dropping the example allows us to re-version Nozick's argument in a way th…
Concise encyclopedia of philosophy of language and linguistics
The application of philosophy to language study, and language study to philosophy, has experienced demonstrable intellectual growth and diversification in recent decades. This work comprehensively analyzes and evaluates many of the most interesting facets of this vibrant field.€ An edited collection of articles taken from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition, this volume acts as a single-stop desk reference resou…
Deflated Concepts
La teoría pleonástica de los conceptos continúa siendo viable a pesar de las recientes críticas que ha recibido por parte de Robert J. Stainton (Crítica, diciembre 1996). En particular el dominio de un concepto puede considerarse como la comprensión de un término que expresa tal concepto. Lo cual en ningún sentido amenaza el carácter deflacionario de la teoría pleonástica, en la medida en que tal comprensión sea vista de una manera apropiada. Más…
Hedonism and the Experience Machine
Money isn’t everything, so what is? Many government leaders, social policy theorists, and members of the general public have a ready answer: happiness. This paper examines an opposing view due to Robert Nozick, which centres on his experience-machine thought experiment. Despite the example's influence among philosophers, the argument behind it is riddled with difficulties. Dropping the example allows us to re-version Nozick's argument in a way th…
Understanding as Knowledge of Meaning
Testimony, the transmission of knowledge through communication, requires a shared understanding of linguistic expressions and utterances of them. Is this understanding itself a kind of knowledge, knowledge of meaning? The intuitive answer is 'yes', but the nature of such knowledge is controversial, as is the assumption that understanding is a kind of knowledge at all. This article is a critical examination of recent work on the nature and role of…
Freedom of expression meets deepfakes
Would suppressing deepfakes violate freedom of expression norms? The question is pressing because the deepfake phenomenon in its more poisonous manifestations appears to call for a response, and automated targeting of some kind looks to be the most practically viable. Two simple answers are rejected: that deepfakes do not deserve protection under freedom of expression legislation because they are fake by definition; and that deepfakes can be targ…
Deflated Concepts
La teoría pleonástica de los conceptos continúa siendo viable a pesar de las recientes críticas que ha recibido por parte de Robert J. Stainton (Crítica, diciembre 1996). En particular el dominio de un concepto puede considerarse como la comprensión de un término que expresa tal concepto. Lo cual en ningún sentido amenaza el carácter deflacionario de la teoría pleonástica, en la medida en que tal comprensión sea vista de una manera apropiada. Más…
Concise encyclopedia of philosophy of language and linguistics
The application of philosophy to language study, and language study to philosophy, has experienced demonstrable intellectual growth and diversification in recent decades. This work comprehensively analyzes and evaluates many of the most interesting facets of this vibrant field.€ An edited collection of articles taken from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition, this volume acts as a single-stop desk reference resou…
Hedonism and the Experience Machine
Money isn’t everything, so what is? Many government leaders, social policy theorists, and members of the general public have a ready answer: happiness. This paper examines an opposing view due to Robert Nozick, which centres on his experience-machine thought experiment. Despite the example's influence among philosophers, the argument behind it is riddled with difficulties. Dropping the example allows us to re-version Nozick's argument in a way th…
Understanding as Knowledge of Meaning
Testimony, the transmission of knowledge through communication, requires a shared understanding of linguistic expressions and utterances of them. Is this understanding itself a kind of knowledge, knowledge of meaning? The intuitive answer is 'yes', but the nature of such knowledge is controversial, as is the assumption that understanding is a kind of knowledge at all. This article is a critical examination of recent work on the nature and role of…
Experimental Philosophy of Language
Experimental philosophy of language uses experimental methods developed in the cognitive sciences to investigate topics of interest to philosophers of language. This article describes the methodological background for the development of experimental approaches to topics in philosophy of language, distinguishes negative and positive projects in experimental philosophy of language, and evaluates experimental work on the reference of proper names an…
Linguistic Prescriptivism
Alex Barber and Robert Stainton grapple with the issue of whether there really is a plausible and non-trivial notion of linguistic prescriptivism that might characterize the attitudes of people commonly associated with the view. They argue that we should drop the notion in favour of “language norming” (which is intended to include paradigm instances of ameliorative projects as well as injunctions not to split infinitives) and then argue that some…
Freedom of expression meets deepfakes
Would suppressing deepfakes violate freedom of expression norms? The question is pressing because the deepfake phenomenon in its more poisonous manifestations appears to call for a response, and automated targeting of some kind looks to be the most practically viable. Two simple answers are rejected: that deepfakes do not deserve protection under freedom of expression legislation because they are fake by definition; and that deepfakes can be targ…
Philosophy (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Linguistics (3 works) · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies (2 works) · Metaphysics (2 works) · Philosophy (2 works) · Philosophy of language (2 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (2 works) · Political science (2 works)