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Conditionals, meaning and mood
Descriptive
TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo
(ID = T-1)
Title
Conditionals, meaning and mood
Identifier
ETD_2973
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000056780
Language
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eng
Genre
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theses
Subject
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(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Philosophy
Subject
(ID = SBJ-2);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Semantics
Subject
(ID = SBJ-3);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Language--Philosophy
Subject
(ID = SBJ-4);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Pragmatics
Abstract
(type = abstract)
This work explores the hypothesis that natural language is a tool for changing a language user's state of mind and, more specifically, the hypothesis that a sentence's meaning is constituted by its characteristic role in fulfilling this purpose. This view contrasts with the dominant approach to semantics due to Frege, Tarski and others' work on artificial languages: language is first and foremost a tool for representing the world. Adapted to natural language by Davidson, Lewis, Montague, et. al. this dominant approach has crystalized as truth-conditional semantics: to know the meaning of a sentence is to know the conditions under which that sentence is true. Chapter 1 details the animating ideas of my alternative approach and shows that the representational function of language can be understood in terms of the more general function of changing representational mental states. Chapters 2-4 argue that the additional resources of this more general conception of meaning allow us to explain certain phenomena involving conditionals (e.g. `if Bob danced then Leland danced') and grammatical mood (e.g. declarative, interrogative, imperative mood) that truth-conditional semantics does not. In the analysis of these specific phenomena and the articulation of the general approach on offer, it emerges that this approach combines insights and benefits from both use-theoretic and truth-theoretic work on meaning.
PhysicalDescription
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electronic resource
Extent
ix, 221 p. : ill.
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Note
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Ph.D.
Note
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Includes bibliographical references
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Includes vita
Note
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by William B. Starr
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Starr
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William B.
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William Starr
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Lepore
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Ernest
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chair
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Advisory Committee
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Ernest Lepore
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Stanley
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Jason
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co-chair
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Advisory Committee
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Jason Stanley
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King
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Jeffrey
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internal member
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Jeffrey King
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Weatherson
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Brian
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Brian Weatherson
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Stone
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Matthew
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Advisory Committee
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Matthew Stone
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Rutgers University
Role
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degree grantor
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Graduate School - New Brunswick
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school
OriginInfo
DateCreated
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2010
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2010-10
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xx
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore19991600001
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NjNbRU
Identifier
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doi:10.7282/T3FF3S3M
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Name
FamilyName
Starr
GivenName
William
Role
Copyright Holder
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DateTime
2010-09-30 20:05:26
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Name
William Starr
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
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License
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Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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Technical
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ETD
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application/pdf
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application/x-tar
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1771520
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