Peter Pagin
Biographic Data
| ID | 778131 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter Pagin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter |
| FAMILY NAME | Pagin |
| SIGNATURE | PAGIN P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stockholm University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5250-1881 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 46 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Introduction to the Special Issue
Communication and Conceptual Change: The Engineering Problem
This paper concerns the problem for conceptual engineering of changing the subject. I emphasize the parallels between the continuity of inquiry, the truth-conditions of attitude reports, and the conditions of communicative success. After that, I consider in more detail the proposed solution to this problem by Herman Cappelen. I argue against it, by appeal to the communication considerations. The paper concludes with some methodological comments
Belief, Introspection, and Constituted Kinds. Selected Papers from the Fifth Philosophy of Language and Mind Conference
Belief Sentences and Compositionality. Notional Part
This paper presents an account of notional belief attributions, that is, belief attributions where the belief content is fully specified. The proposal combines a Hintikka style possible-worlds semantics for the belief operator and a structured meanings approach for giving a structured mode of presentation of the belief content. The semantics is not standard compositional, but it satisfies a more general notion of compositionality, explained in th…
Propositional content by Peter Hanks
Reviewed by: Propositional content by Peter Hanks Peter Pagin* Propositional content. By Peter Hanks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. x, 227. ISBN 9780199684892. $50 (Hb). Peter Hanks has written an immensely thought-provoking book, of great originality and vast ambition. At the heart lies a novel conception of content, based on rejecting one of the most deeply entrenched distinctions in analytic philosophy: the content-force distincti…
A general argument against structured propositions
The standard argument against ordered tuples as propositions is that it is arbitrary what truth-conditions they should have. In this paper we generalize that argument. Firstly, we require that propositions have truth-conditions intrinsically. Secondly, we require strongly equivalent truth-conditions to be identical. Thirdly, we provide a formal framework, taken from Graph Theory, to characterize structure and structured objects in general. The ar…
Enrichment, coherence, and quantifier properties
Tolerance and higher-order vagueness
Problems with Norms of Assertion
In this paper I draw attention to a number of problems that afflict norm accounts of assertion, i.e. accounts that explain what assertion is, and typically how speakers understand what assertion is, by appeal to a norm of assertion . I argue that the disagreements in the literature over norm selection undermines such an account of understanding. I also argue that the treatment of intuitions as evidence in the literature undermines much of the con…
Critical Pragmatics
This slim and elegant book by Korta and Perry (KP) is a welcome new contribution to the semantics-pragmatics area, specifically as regards the semantics-pragmatics interface for singular terms. Its main idea is that in order to account for the role of linguistic meaning in communication, we will need reflexive semantic contents beside the ordinary, referential ones. The reflexive contents derive from the reflexive truth-conditions of sentences. T…
Philosophy of language and mind
Assertion, inference, and consequence
Compositionality I: Definitions and Variants
This is the first part of a two‐part article on semantic compositionality, that is, the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way they are put together. Here we provide a brief historical background, a formal framework for syntax and semantics, precise definitions, and a survey of variants of compositionality. Stronger and weaker forms are distinguished, as well as generalized forms …
Compositionality II: Arguments and Problems
This is the second part of a two-part article on compositionality, i.e. the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way they are put together. In the first, Pagin and Westerståhl (2010), we provide a general historical background, a formal framework, definitions, and a survey of variants of compositionality. It will be referred to as Part I. Here we discuss arguments for and against th…
Assertion not possibly social
Indeterminacy and the analytic/synthetic distinctions: A survey
Compositionality and Context
In his contribution to a series of millennial articles in Mind and Language, Jerry Fodor (2001) confronts the question of the priority between thought and language. As Fodor adequately frames it, the question comes down to whether one of thought content and linguistic meaning is derived from the other. His chosen method is an appeal to compositionality (Fodor, 2001: 6): that which is primary must be compositional. For reasons of productivity and …
Is assertion social
Schiffer on Communication
Bivalence: Meaning theory vs metaphysics
Rules of Meaning and Practical Reasoning
Compositionality I: Definitions and Variants
This is the first part of a two‐part article on semantic compositionality, that is, the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way they are put together. Here we provide a brief historical background, a formal framework for syntax and semantics, precise definitions, and a survey of variants of compositionality. Stronger and weaker forms are distinguished, as well as generalized forms …
Is assertion social
Problems with Norms of Assertion
In this paper I draw attention to a number of problems that afflict norm accounts of assertion, i.e. accounts that explain what assertion is, and typically how speakers understand what assertion is, by appeal to a norm of assertion . I argue that the disagreements in the literature over norm selection undermines such an account of understanding. I also argue that the treatment of intuitions as evidence in the literature undermines much of the con…
Rules of Meaning and Practical Reasoning
Compositionality II: Arguments and Problems
This is the second part of a two-part article on compositionality, i.e. the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way they are put together. In the first, Pagin and Westerståhl (2010), we provide a general historical background, a formal framework, definitions, and a survey of variants of compositionality. It will be referred to as Part I. Here we discuss arguments for and against th…
Assertion not possibly social
Indeterminacy and the analytic/synthetic distinctions: A survey
Bivalence: Meaning theory vs metaphysics
Rules of Meaning and Practical Reasoning
Schiffer on Communication
Is assertion social
Compositionality and Context
In his contribution to a series of millennial articles in Mind and Language, Jerry Fodor (2001) confronts the question of the priority between thought and language. As Fodor adequately frames it, the question comes down to whether one of thought content and linguistic meaning is derived from the other. His chosen method is an appeal to compositionality (Fodor, 2001: 6): that which is primary must be compositional. For reasons of productivity and …
Indeterminacy and the analytic/synthetic distinctions: A survey
Assertion not possibly social
Compositionality I: Definitions and Variants
This is the first part of a two‐part article on semantic compositionality, that is, the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way they are put together. Here we provide a brief historical background, a formal framework for syntax and semantics, precise definitions, and a survey of variants of compositionality. Stronger and weaker forms are distinguished, as well as generalized forms …
Compositionality II: Arguments and Problems
This is the second part of a two-part article on compositionality, i.e. the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its parts and the way they are put together. In the first, Pagin and Westerståhl (2010), we provide a general historical background, a formal framework, definitions, and a survey of variants of compositionality. It will be referred to as Part I. Here we discuss arguments for and against th…
Assertion, inference, and consequence
Philosophy of language and mind
Critical Pragmatics
This slim and elegant book by Korta and Perry (KP) is a welcome new contribution to the semantics-pragmatics area, specifically as regards the semantics-pragmatics interface for singular terms. Its main idea is that in order to account for the role of linguistic meaning in communication, we will need reflexive semantic contents beside the ordinary, referential ones. The reflexive contents derive from the reflexive truth-conditions of sentences. T…
Problems with Norms of Assertion
In this paper I draw attention to a number of problems that afflict norm accounts of assertion, i.e. accounts that explain what assertion is, and typically how speakers understand what assertion is, by appeal to a norm of assertion . I argue that the disagreements in the literature over norm selection undermines such an account of understanding. I also argue that the treatment of intuitions as evidence in the literature undermines much of the con…
Tolerance and higher-order vagueness
Enrichment, coherence, and quantifier properties
Belief Sentences and Compositionality. Notional Part
This paper presents an account of notional belief attributions, that is, belief attributions where the belief content is fully specified. The proposal combines a Hintikka style possible-worlds semantics for the belief operator and a structured meanings approach for giving a structured mode of presentation of the belief content. The semantics is not standard compositional, but it satisfies a more general notion of compositionality, explained in th…
Propositional content by Peter Hanks
Reviewed by: Propositional content by Peter Hanks Peter Pagin* Propositional content. By Peter Hanks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. x, 227. ISBN 9780199684892. $50 (Hb). Peter Hanks has written an immensely thought-provoking book, of great originality and vast ambition. At the heart lies a novel conception of content, based on rejecting one of the most deeply entrenched distinctions in analytic philosophy: the content-force distincti…
A general argument against structured propositions
The standard argument against ordered tuples as propositions is that it is arbitrary what truth-conditions they should have. In this paper we generalize that argument. Firstly, we require that propositions have truth-conditions intrinsically. Secondly, we require strongly equivalent truth-conditions to be identical. Thirdly, we provide a formal framework, taken from Graph Theory, to characterize structure and structured objects in general. The ar…
Belief, Introspection, and Constituted Kinds. Selected Papers from the Fifth Philosophy of Language and Mind Conference
Communication and Conceptual Change: The Engineering Problem
This paper concerns the problem for conceptual engineering of changing the subject. I emphasize the parallels between the continuity of inquiry, the truth-conditions of attitude reports, and the conditions of communicative success. After that, I consider in more detail the proposed solution to this problem by Herman Cappelen. I argue against it, by appeal to the communication considerations. The paper concludes with some methodological comments
Introduction to the Special Issue
Philosophy (19 works) · Epistemology (15 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Linguistics (11 works) · Metaphysics (9 works) · Philosophy of language (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge (6 works) · Mathematics (6 works) · Philosophy of science (6 works)