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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Thomas Reid On Language And Mind, Alastair L.V. Crosby
Thomas Reid On Language And Mind, Alastair L.V. Crosby
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The dissertation concerns Thomas Reid’s philosophy of language. In the first three chapters, I discuss his philosophy of language in relation to his developmental psychology. More specifically, I discuss his answers to two questions: (i) what does the ability to understand artificial linguistic signs make possible? and (ii) what makes the ability to understand artificial linguistic signs possible? The focus is on Reid’s claim that the mind’s ability to understand artificial linguistic signs makes it possible for it to acquire a number of distinct mental abilities, such as to conceive universals, to judge, and to reason. I argue this claim …
Vindicating Evans: A Defence Of Evans' Theory Of Singular Thought, Dylan A. Hurry
Vindicating Evans: A Defence Of Evans' Theory Of Singular Thought, Dylan A. Hurry
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
A singular thought can intuitively be understood as a thought that is directly about a particular thing, e.g., a non-conceptual thought about B.B. King, Mont Blanc, or your most beloved pet. The consensus within the singular thought literature has been that Gareth Evans (1982) develops a theory of singular thought throughout his posthumously published work The Varieties of Reference. However, Evans never claims to be developing a theory of singular thought, nor does the locution ‘singular thought’ appear more than a handful of times throughout the work. The singular thought literature lacks any substantial exegetical engagement with the theory …