WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ‚
ABOUT FILIP
KAWCZYNSKI
THE UNIVERSE
?
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
What do you mean by „thinking
about language”?
I mean PHILOSOPHY of language
What do you mean by the PHILOSOPHY of language?
How the heck can you philosophise about language?!
Language is just a tool to describe what’s around us, we
use it to express our knowledge about the world. And
that’s it.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
What you’ve just said is a tiny sample of
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
What you’ve just said is a tiny sample of
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
What you’ve just said is a tiny sample of
philosophising about language! :P
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
What you’ve just said is a tiny sample of
philosophising about language! :P
very modest one, to be precise…
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE
?
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
Still sounds a bit strange to me. Maybe I don’t
get what you mean by „language”?
Language is any system of symbols, i.e. every set
of signs and objects that are referred to with the
signs. Signs represent or stand for the objects. The
objects are called reference or denotation of the
signs.
OK, so Polish or English etc. are definitely languages,
that’s obvious. But what about e.g. probability calculus in
mathematics?
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
Polish, English etc. are called natural languages.
The whole mathematics is nothing more or less
than an artificial, formal language to describe
reality.
Alright, the last thing: what about things like
heart symbolising love or even acts like waving
arms in particular way as an information for
plane pilot or sth?
These are also signs, since in the contexts you’ve
described they appear as part of a convention in
which they refer to / represent / stand for some things.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
I comprehend that it’s not a thing that you can
explain in a few words, but could you just try to
tell me in short what is philosophy of language
then ?
To put it really briefly and generally, philosophy
of language is a detailed reflection on how
language works. It is systematic and has to meet
strict requirements of logical and conceptual
coherence.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
What you’ve just said may be as well a
description of linguistics, grammar or
perhaps even semiology…
You’re right. What differs philosophy from those
other disciplines is that it takes the most abstract
and general point of view. Philosophers of
language are rather not interested in empirical
investigation of people using language that
linguistics carry out, nor in establishing linguistic
norms and rules which is a domain of
grammarians.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
So what do they do?
Philosophers aim to find out what is the deep,
logical, metaphysical structure of language and
what place language takes among other entities
and phenomena that constitute the universe.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
Alright, but tell me what do we need
philosophy of language for?
For
NOTHING
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
yh?
Yes, for nothing. Just like the rest of
human activities: philosophy in general,
building bridges, constructing
computers, looking for a cure for cancer,
singing songs, eating ice creams etc.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
yh?
Yes, for nothing. Just like the rest of
human activities: philosophy in general,
building bridges, constructing
computers, looking for a cure for cancer,
singing songs, eating ice creams etc.
Yeah, that’s cool. Gotta go, C U!
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT DO WE
NEED
PHILOSOPHY
OF LANGUAGE
FOR?
//© Filip Kawczyński
HOW DOES
THE
PHILOSOPHY
OF LANGUAGE
WORK?
//© Filip Kawczyński
Sierpiński Carpet
Fractal object
//© Filip Kawczyński
//© Filip Kawczyński
SOLVING PUZZLES IN
PHILOSOPHY OF
TYPE
A QUOTE
LANGUAGE
IS IN FACT
CONCERNING
HERE.
FUNDAMENTAL
PHILOSOPHICAL
ISSUES
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
SYNTAX
Concerns relations between
signs and other signs
SEMANTICS
Concerns relations between
signs and their reference
PRAGMATICS
Concerns relations between
signs and users of these signs
//© Filip Kawczyński
TWO MAIN PARADIGMS IN SEMANTICS
ATTRIBUTIVE
REFERENTIAL
All expressions of
language refer to the
world via meaning which
is somehow associated
with our beliefs
concerning properties
(attributes) of things.
At least some expressions
of language refer directly
to their references.
Expressions that do that
via meaning are in fact
translatable do those that
refers directly.
//© Filip Kawczyński
IDENTITY PUZZLE:
in case of pairs of true sentences of the
form
”a=a”and ”a=b”
they both express the same claim about
the same thing - namely, that the object
being reference of ”a” or ”b” is identical to
itself.
How then it is possible that the latter
sentence has a higher cognitive value?
//© Filip Kawczyński
//© Filip Kawczyński
IDENTITY PUZZLE
For example, consider:
(1) ”Mount Everest = Mount Everest”
(2) ”Mount Everest = Chomolungma”
Both (1) and (2) says exactly the same:
(1) 🏔=🏔
(2) 🏔=🏔
Namely, that the mountain in question is
identical to itself.
Still, (2) can be an expression of a true
discovery broadening knowledge.
//©
//©Filip
FilipKawczyński
Kawczyński
IDENTITY PUZZLE
ATTRIBUTIVE
Sentence (2) is more
informative because
`Mount Everest` and
`Chomolungma` express
different senses i.e. the
object is given in different
modes of presentation
REFERENTIAL
Both `Mount Everest` and
`Chomolungma` directly
refer to the mountain in
question, without
mediation of any sense. The
difference in cognitive
value between (1) and (2)
must be an effect of
something different than
linguistic phenomena.
//© Filip Kawczyński
SOLVING PUZZLES IN
PHILOSOPHY OF
TYPE
A QUOTE
LANGUAGE
IS IN FACT
CONCERNING
HERE.
FUNDAMENTAL
PHILOSOPHICAL
ISSUES
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF
TRUTH
Fundamental Issue No. 1
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
true
true definition
true friendship
true leader
true love
true north
true sentence
true opinion
true belief
true blood
true story
true detective
true evidence
true religion
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
a sentence
a proposition
What does it
mean that:
a belief
a description
is TRUE?
a thought
a theory
etc.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Correspondence
Theory
Coherence
Theory
Deflationism
Pragmatism
Tarski’s
Theory
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Correspondence
Theory
Tarski’s
Theory
Coherence
Theory
Pragmati
sm
Deflation
ism
A sentence / belief / etc. is true
if it corresponds to the way
things actually are — to the facts
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Tarski’s
Theory
Correspondence
Theory
Coherence
Theory
Pragmati
sm
Deflation
ism
”S” is true if and only if S
”Snow is white” if and only if snow is white
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Coherence
Theory
Correspondence
Theory
Tarski’s
Theory
Pragmati
sm
Deflation
ism
”S” is true if and only if ”S” is coherent with
the rest of sentences of the theory.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Pragmatism
Correspondence
Theory
Tarski’s
Theory
Coherence
Theory
Deflation
ism
”S” is true if and only if ”S” has some
practical value
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Deflationism
Correspondence
Theory
Tarski’s
Theory
Coherence
Theory
Pragmati
sm
The predicate ”is true” has no significance:
saying »”S” is true« is equal to saying ”S”.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Correspondence
Theory
Coherence
Theory
Deflationism
Pragmatism
Tarski’s
Theory
//© Filip Kawczyński
TRUTH
ATTRIBUTIVE
REFERENTIAL
Coherence
Theory
Correspondence
Theory
Pragmatism
Tarski’s
Theory
Deflationism
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF
REALITY
Fundamental Issue No. 2
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
THE NATURE OF REALITY
REALISM
IDEALISM
//© Filip Kawczyński
REALISM
There is something
real outside the mind,
that mind can acquire
knowledge of and
what is independent of
mind, conventions,
conceptual
frameworks, theories,
linguistic patterns and
so on.
//© Filip Kawczyński
IDEALISM
Everything we `know`
about the world is
essentially determined
by the character of our
mind’s cognitive
capabilities. Some
idealists believe that
everything is just a
thought.
//© Filip Kawczyński
REALITY
ATTRIBUTIVE
REFERENTIAL
IDEALISM
REALISM
//© Filip Kawczyński
Go to ’’Downloads” on the
www.philosophy.uw.edu.pl
to download this presentation.
Dr Filip Kawczyński
[email protected]
THANK YOU!
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
INDIVIDUATION
Fundamental Issue No. 3
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
INDIVIDUATION
Two understanding of the notion:
(1) Epistemological / Cognitive sense: for someone to
individuate an object is for that person to 'single out' that
object as a distinct object of perception, thought, or
linguistic reference.
(2) Metaphysical sense: what 'individuates' an object, in this
sense, is whatever it is that makes it the single object that it
is-whatever it is that makes it one object, distinct from others,
and the very object that it is as opposed to any other thing.
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
INDIVIDUATION
Essence
Matter
& form
Tropes
Universals
//© Filip Kawczyński
WHAT PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE UNIVERSE ?
INDIVIDUATION
Universals
Properties considered as abstracts
Tropes
Properties considered as particular
Matter
& form
Combination of matter with the form it takes
Essence
Unique property that only the object in question has
//© Filip Kawczyński
INDIVIDUATION
ATTRIBUTIVE
REFERENTIAL
Universals
Tropes
Matter
& form
Essence
//© Filip Kawczyński