Research Catalog

Title

The problem of the essential indexical : and other essays / John Perry.

Author

Perry, John, 1943-

Publication

Stanford, Calif. : CSLI Publications, ©2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 391 pages; 23 cm

Summary

Publisher Description (unedited publisher data) This book includes famous papers such as 'The Problem of the Essential Indexical' and 'Frege on Demonstratives' and 'Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference'; papers co-authored with Mark Crimmins ('The Prince and the Phone Booth') and David Israel ('Fodor on Psychological Explanations') and related papers on situation semantics, direct reference, and the structure of belief. Perry has added 'afterwords' that discuss responses to his work by Gareth Evans, Robert Stalnaker, Barbara Partee, Howard Wettstein and others. The word 'I' is called an 'indexical' which means who it stands for depends on who says it, not just on its meaning. Other indexicals are 'you', 'here' and 'now'. Perry discusses how these words work, and why they express important philosophical thoughts. He claims that indexicals pose a challenge to traditional assumptions about language and thought, and for that reason a number of these papers sparked lively debates.

Subject

• Meaning (Philosophy)
• Belief and doubt
• Belief and doubt
• Sprachphilosophie
• Deixis
• Referentie

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-384) and index.

Contents

1. Frege on Demonstratives -- 2. The Problem of the Essential Indexical -- 3. Belief and Acceptance -- 4. A Problem About Continued Belief -- 5. Castaneda on He and I -- 6. Perception, Action, and the Structure of Believing -- 7. From Worlds to Situations -- 8. Possible Worlds and Subject Matter -- 9. Circumstantial Attitudes and Benevolent Cognition -- 10. Thought Without Representation -- 11. Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference -- 12. The Prince and the Phone Booth: Reporting Puzzling Beliefs / John Perry and Mark Crimmins -- 13. Individuals in Informational and Intentional Content -- 14. Fodor and Psychological Explanation / John Perry and David Israel -- 15. Davidson's Sentences and Wittgenstein's Builders -- 16. Evading the Slingshot -- 17. Broadening the Mind -- 18. What Are Indexicals? -- 19. Myself and I -- 20. Reflexivity, Indexicality and Names -- 21. Rip Van Winkle and Other Characters.

ISBN

• 1575862468
• 9781575862460
• 1575862697
• 9781575862699

LCCN

00029236

OCLC

• ocm43657087
• 43657087
• SCSB-9434989

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library