I think Horty's book is really excellent in every way. Horty's insights about Frege and his astute grasp of the philosophical and logical issues involved bear on almost every issue in Frege scholarship. His interpretation of Frege is quite charitable and plausible at the same time, showing how Frege's insights and intentions led him to important difficulties. Horty is then able to suggest ways out of those difficulties that are both philosophically and logically plausible and Fregean in spirit if not in letter. I think the book will be widely used in seminars, will be a must purchase for all research libraries, and will be quite influential. A wonderful book.

John Perry, Stanford University

In this short monograph, John Horty explores the difficulties presented for Gottlob Frege's semantic theory, as well as its modern descendents, by the treatment of defined expressions. The book begins by focusing on the psychological constraints governing Frege's notion of sense, or meaning, and argues that, given these constraints, even the treatment of simple stipulative definitions led Frege to important difficulties. Horty is able to suggest ways out of these difficulties that are both philosophically and logically plausible and Fregean in spirit. This discussion is then connected to a number of more familiar topics, such as indexicality and the discussion of concepts in recent theories of mind and language. In the latter part of the book, after introducing a simple semantic model of senses as procedures, Horty considers the problems that definitions present for Frege's idea that the sense of an expression should mirror its grammatical structure. The requirement can be satisfied, he argues, only if defined expressions--and incomplete expressions as well--are assigned senses of their own, rather than treated contextually. He then explores one way in which these senses might be reified within the procedural model, drawing on ideas from work in the semantics of computer programming languages. With its combination of technical semantics and history of philosophy, Horty's book tackles some of the hardest questions in the philosophy of language. It should interest philosophers, logicians, and linguists.
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In this short monograph, John Horty explores the difficulties presented for Gottlob Frege's semantic theory, as well as its modern descendents, by the treatment of defined expressions. With its combination of technical semantics and history of philosophy, Horty's book tackles some of the hardest questions in the philosophy of language. It should interest philosophers, logicians, and linguists.
Les mer
PREFACE; REFERENCES; INDEX
"I think Horty's book is really excellent in every way. Horty's insights about Frege and his astute grasp of the philosophical and logical issues involved bear on almost every issue in Frege scholarship. His interpretation of Frege is quite charitable and plausible at the same time, showing how Frege's insights and intentions led him to important difficulties. Horty is then able to suggest ways out of those difficulties that are both philosophically and logically plausible and Fregean in spirit if not in letter. I think the book will be widely used in seminars, will be a must purchase for all research libraries, and will be quite influential. A wonderful book."--John Perry, Stanford University
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Selling point: Tackles an important and novel position in semantics Selling point: Brings to bear insights on Frege's philosophy and logic which impact all aspects of thought on Frege
John Horty is a Professor in the Philosophy Department and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Agency and Deontic Logic (Oxford, 2001) as well as papers on a variety of topics in logic, philosophy, and computer science.
Les mer
Selling point: Tackles an important and novel position in semantics Selling point: Brings to bear insights on Frege's philosophy and logic which impact all aspects of thought on Frege

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199732715
Publisert
2010
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
261 gr
Høyde
155 mm
Bredde
234 mm
Dybde
15 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
176

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

John Horty is a Professor in the Philosophy Department and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Agency and Deontic Logic (Oxford, 2001) as well as papers on a variety of topics in logic, philosophy, and computer science.