Beyond The Letter (routledge Revivals): A Philosophical Inquiry Into Ambiguity, Vagueness And Methaphor In Language (volume 6)

Ambiguity, vagueness and metaphor are pervasive features of language, deserving of systematic study in their own right. Yet they have frequently been considered mere deviations from ideal language or obstacles to be avoided in the construction of scientific systems. First published in 1979, Beyond the Letter offers a consecutive study of these features from a philosphical point of view, providing analyses of each and treating their relations to one another. Addressed to the fundamental task of logical and semantic explanation, the book employs an inscriptional methodology in the attempt to avoid prevalent forms of question-begging, and, further, in the conviction that sparseness of assumption often reveals points of theoretical interest irrespective of methodolgical preference. The author distinguishes and analyses several varieties of ambiguity, developing new semantic notions in the process; recasts the philosophical treatment of vagueness in the light of recent criticisms of analyticity; discusses the bearing of vagueness on logic; and provides a systematic critique of major recent interpretations of metaphor, developing a revised version of contextualism. Cover 1 Beyond the Letter: A Philosophical Inquiry into Ambiguity, Vagueness and Metaphor in Language 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Preface 12 Introduction 16 1. Idealisation and Deviation 16 2. Varieties of Understanding 17 3. Theoretical Accounts and Their Difficulties 22 4. Inscriptionalistic Assumptions 23 I: Ambiguity 26 1. Introduction to the Problem 26 2. Inscriptions and Extensions: Elementary Ambiguity 27 3. E-ambiguity, Generality, Vagueness 29 4. Ambiguity ofOccurrence: I-ambiguity 30 5. Ambiguity of Occurrence: M-ambiguity 32 6. A New Problem: Green Centaurs 35 7. Difference in Meaning 37 8. Constituent Ambiguity 42 9. Compound Ambiguity 44 10. Mention-selection 46 II: Vagueness 52 1. Vagueness and I-ambiguity 52 2. Vagueness, Generality, Precision 55 3. Vagueness and Molecular Compounds 58 4. Vagueness, Atomic Compounds and Mention-selection 60 5. Kelativitj and the Universality of Vagueness 64 6. The Possibility of Vagueness 65 7. Open texture, Compounds and Mention-selection 66 8. Open texture and Analyticity 68 9. Open texture and Relative Terms 72 10. Open texture and Classification 75 11. Vagueness and Logic 80 12. Vagueness, Meaning and Fact 87 III: Metaphor 94 1. Metaphor, Mention-selection and E-ambiguity 94 2. Intuitionistic Approach to Metaphor 97 3. Emotivism and Metaphor 102 4. Formulaic Approach to Metaphor 107 5. Intensional Approach to Metaphor 112 6. Evaluation of Intensionalism 115 7. Interactionsm and Metaphor 122 8. Evaluation of Interactionism 125 9. Contextualism and Metaphor 133 10. Evaluation of Contextualism 139 11. Metaphor and Exploration 143 Notes 146 Index 159 ; "A Philosophical Inquiry into Ambiguity,Vagueness and Methaphor in Language" A Philosophical Inquiry into Ambiguity, Vagueness and Methaphor in Language