Convention and Language

Author: Jackman H.

Source: Synthese, Volume 117, Number 3, 1998 , pp. 295-312(18)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

This paper has three objectives. The first is to show how David Lewis' influential account of how a population is related to its language requires that speakers be `conceptually autonomous' in a way that is incompatible with content ascriptions following from the assumption that its speakers share a language. The second objective is to sketch an alternate account of the psychological and sociological facts that relate a population to its language. The third is to suggest a modification of Lewis' account of convention that will allow one to preserve the claim that there are conventions of language.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606 U.S.A.

Publication date: 1998-01-01

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