How Is Language Possible?

Regular price €18.99
Quantity:
Ships in 10-20 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
Shipping & Delivery
A01=Hattiangodi
Author_Hattiangodi
Category=CFA
Category=CFF
eq_bestseller
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction

Product details

  • ISBN 9780812690453
  • Weight: 408g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
  • Publication Date: 11 Nov 1999
  • Publisher: Open Court Publishing Co ,U.S.
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns
Book jacket: The meaning of a word is not an abstract idea for which the word stands, nor is it the uses to which the word can be out, nor the linguistic rules governing the word's use. The meaning of a word is a set of theories.

How can different individuals learn the same language, of potentially infinite complexity, if each possesses only finite evidence, which moreover, does not completely coincide with the evidence possessed by other individuals?

The answer is that their understanding of language is approximate. Individuals never really understand a different, distinct language, which is largely similar to the languages understood by the other individuals.

In this revolutionary study of the philosophical problems of language, J.N. Hattiangadi offers a new approach which simultaneously solves several venerable conundrums in the origin and development of language and thought. His argument includes acute criticisms of the later Wittgenstein's theory of language use, Quine's approach to subjunctive conditionals, Kripke's analysis of proper names, and Chomsky's conjecture of an innate universal grammar.

More from this author