Repository | Journal | Volume | Article
The pragmatics of inferential content
pp. 157-181
Abstract
Carnap took the content of a particularsentence or set of sentences to consist in the set ofthe consequences of the sentence or set. This claimequates meaning with inferential role, but itrestricts the inferences to deductive or explicativeones. Here I reject a recent proposal by RobertBrandom, where inductive or ampliative inferences arealso meant to confer contents on expressions. I arguethat if Brandom's inferentialist picture is upheld, andboth explicative and ampliative inferences confermeaning, one consequence of this is that the contentof a sentence is to be read off from our ways ofrationally altering our beliefs. Meaning and contentthen are largely concepts of pragmatics, with no cleartheoretical interest. My critique affects certainaspects of Dummett's meaning-theoretic picture too,and the discussion also links up with the developmentof `dynamic semantics'.
Publication details
Published in:
(2001) Synthese 128 (1-2).
Pages: 157-181
Full citation:
Hinzen Wolfram (2001) „The pragmatics of inferential content“. Synthese 128 (1-2), 157–181.