Librería Portfolio

This volume deals with the relation between pragmatics and the philosophy of mind. Unlike most of the books written on the subject, it does not defend the view that a specific form of dependence holds between language and thought, to the exclusion of all other possible relations. Taking pragmatics in its original sense of "that part of semiotics that is concerned with the users of a semiotic systemö, the book analyses the nature of the mental processes and states mirrored in language use. Drawing on results from cognitive psychology, the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, linguistics, etc., a unified view of the mental dimension in the use of language, both as an instrument of communication and as an instrument of thought, is offered. After offering a tour d'horizon of the relationship between language and mind, this volume deals with the way thought is manifested in language.


Table of Contents
Preface
xi
1. Introduction: Language - Mirror of the Mind
1
1.1. Variations on a theme
1
1.2. Functionalism
9
1.3. Pragmatics
20
1.4. Sociopragmatics, psychopragmatics, and the philosophy of mind
42
1.5. Language-in-use: Mirror of the mind
52
Part I Thought in Language
2. Transparency
61
2.1. The assumption of transparency
61
2.2. Speaking and listening
62
2.3. Naturalness
72
2.4. Pragmatic interpretation
77
2.5. Expressibility and context
85
2.6. The ascription of content
91
2.7. The transparency of discourse
105
2.8. Principles of transparency
113
3. Indirectness
127
3.1. Meaning something else
127
3.2. Toward a heuristics of indirect interpretation
138
3.3. Alternative meanings and alternative expressions
153
3.4. Why do we use indirectness?
158
Notes
165
References
183
Index