Overview

No word in English is shorter than the word ``I.'' And yet no word is more important in philosophy. When Descartes said ``I think therefore I am'' he produced something that was both about himself and a universal formula. The word ``I'' is called an ``indexical'' because its meaning always depends on who says it. Other examples of indexicals are ``you,'' ``here,'' ``this'' and ``now.'' John Perry discusses how these kinds of words work, and why they express important philosophical thoughts. He shows that indexicals pose a challenge to traditional assumptions about language and thought. Over the years a number of these papers, now included in this book, have sparked lively debates and have been influential in philosophy, linguistics and other areas of cognitive science. With seven new papers, including the previously unpublished ``What Are Indexicals?,'' the present volume expands on an earlier version of this book published in the early nineties. Also included are the well-known papers ``Frege on Demonstratives,'' ``Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference,'' ``Evading the Slingshot,'' ``The Prince and the Phone booth'' (coauthored with Mark Crimmins), ``Fodor on Psychological Explanations'' (coauthored with David Israel), and related papers on situation semantics, direct reference, and the structure of belief. This book also includes afterwords written by the author that discuss responses to his work by Gareth Evans, Robert Stalnaker, Barbara Partee, Howard Wettstein and others.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Perry (Stanford University, California)
Publisher:   Centre for the Study of Language & Information
Imprint:   Centre for the Study of Language & Information
Edition:   2nd Revised edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.662kg
ISBN:  

9781575862460

ISBN 10:   1575862468
Pages:   300
Publication Date:   03 August 2001
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

1. Indexicals, contexts and unarticulated constituents; 2. Reality without reference; 3. Evading the slingshot; 4. Broadening the mind; 5. Myself and I; 6. Reflexivity, indexicality and names; 7. Rip Van Winkle and other characters; 8. Frege on demonstratives; 9. The problem of the essential indexical; 10. Belief and acceptance; 11. A problem about continued belief; 12. Castandeda on he and I; 13. Perception, action, and the structure of believing; 14. From worlds to situations; 15. Possible worlds to situations; 16. Circumstantial attitudes and benevolent cognition; 17. Thought without representation; 18. Cognitive significance and new theories of reference; 19. The prince and the phone booth; 20. Individuals in Informational and Intentional content; 21. Fodor and psychological explanations; References; Index.

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Author Information

John Perry is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, where he taught from 1974 to 2008, and from the University of California, Riverside, where he taught from 2008 to 2014. He has written books and articles on semantics (including pioneering work on situation semantics, with Jon Barwise), personal identity, the philosophy of language consciousness and other philosophical topics. He is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching and research, including honorary degrees from Doane College, the University of the Basque Country, and Bochum University. He is a researcher at the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI).

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