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An Essay on Names and Truth
Wolfram Hinzen
256 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-922652-8
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Paperback
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11 October 2007
Price:
£30.00 £7.50
Please note, this offer price only applies to individual customers when ordering direct from Oxford University Press, while stock lasts. No further discounts will apply. If you are a bookseller, please contact your OUP sales representative.
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- Provides a startling new perspective on old issues of philosophy
- Integrates the philosophy of language with the Minimalist Program
- Throws new light on thought-language relations
- Lays new foundations to the study of reference and truth
- "It is rare to find a philosopher with the knowledge and competence to do serious grammatical investigation, or a grammarian with the scope and sophistication to do significant philosophical analysis." Juan Uriagereka University of Maryland
This pioneering book lays new foundations for the study of reference and truth. It seeks to explain the origins and characteristics of human ways of relating to the world by means of an understanding of the inherent structures of the mind. Wolfram Hinzen explores truth in the light of Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Program. Truth, he argues, is a function of the human mind and, in particular, likely presupposes the structure of the human clause.
Professor Hinzen
begins by setting out the essentials of the Minimalist Program and by considering the explanatory role played by the interfaces of the linguistic system with other cognitive systems. He then sets out an internalist reconstruction of meaning. He argues that meaning stems from concepts, originating not from reference but from intentional relations built up in human acts of language in which such concepts figure. How we refer, he suggests, is a function of the concepts we possess, rather than the reverse in which reference to the world gives us the concepts to realize it. He concludes with extended accounts of declarative sentences and names, the two aspects of language which seem most inimical to his approach.
The book makes important and radical contributions to
theory and debate in linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. The author frames his argument in a way that will be readily comprehensible to scholars and advanced students in all three disciplines. Readership: Scholars and advanced students of the philosophy of language and mind and the Minimalist Program in linguistics, including linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists more generally. As the book provides coverage of important issues not covered in any philosophy or linguistics textbooks there may be a demand for the book as supplementary reading in courses on linguistic theory, mind and language and philosophy of language.
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Wolfram Hinzen, Professor of Philosophy, Durham University
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"...a well-structured, well written book..." - Georg Ki*cll, The Journal of Lingustics "In Minimal Mind Design, Wolfram Hinzen laid out the philosophical foundations of a minimalist naturalization of meaning. Most philosophers would have been satisfied with that important contribution; Hinzen took it as a mere first step. In this sequel, he embarks on a far-reaching program, aiming at rethinking the old chestnuts of concepts, names and truth within a radically Chomskyan paradigm. I simply do not know of any other work of this scope and profoundness that is as well-versed on current syntactic theorizing." - Juan Uriagereka, Professor of Linguistics, The University of Maryland at College Park "The book
marks a signal step in the evolution of generative grammar and the unification of mind and brain. It should command the attention of linguists, philosophers, psychologists and the field of cognitive science." - Tom Roeper, University of Massachusetts, Amherst "...a book like Hinzen's is welcome..." - Ileana Paul and Robert J. Stainton, Mind "In this finely crafted essay Hinzen argues that quintessentially semantic notions like Truth and Reference are in fact deeply grounded in natural language syntax. This is nothing less than the beginning of a Copernican revolution in philosophy of language and mind. This should be on everyone's required reading list." - Cedric Boeckx, Harvard University
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1: Roots of the Intentional
2: The Atoms of Thought
3: Structures for Concepts
4: Structure for Truth
5: Structure for Names
Overall Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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