Language and scientific explanation (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783961102648)

This book discusses the two main construals of the explanatory goals of semantic theories. The first, externalist conception, understands semantic theories in terms of a hermeneutic and interpretive explanatory project. The second, internalist conception, understands semantic theories in terms of the psychological mechanisms in virtue of which meanings are generated. It is argued that a fruitful scientific explanation is one that aims to uncover the underlying mechanisms in virtue of which the observable phenomena are made possible, and that a scientific semantics should be doing just that. If this is the case, then a scientific semantics is unlikely to be externalist, for reasons having to do with the subject matter and form of externalist theories. It is argued that semantics construed hermeneutically is nevertheless a valuable explanatory project.

Author: Eran Asoulin
ISBN-10: 3961102643
ISBN-13: 9783961102648
Publisher: Language Science Press
Language: English
Published: 06/19/2020
Pages: 96
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 9.61h x 6.69w x 0.25d