Language and Philosophical Problems

Language and Philosophical Problems investigates problems about mind, meaning and mathematics rooted in preconceptions of language. It deals in particular with problems which are connected with our tendency to be misled by certain prevailing views and preconceptions about language. Philosophical claims made by theorists of meaning are scrutinized and shown to be connected with common views about the nature of certain mathematical notions and methods. Drawing in particular on Wittgenstein's ideas, Soren Stenlund demonstrates a strategy for tracing out and resolving conceptual and philosophical problems. By a critical examination of examples from different areas of philosophy, he shows that many problems arise through the transgression of the limits of the use of technical concepts and formal methods. Many prima facie different kinds of problems are shown to have common roots, and should thus be dealt and resolved together. Such an approach is usually prevented by the influence of traditional philosophical terminology and classification. The results of this investigation make it clear that the received ways of subdividing the subject matter of philosophy often conceal the roots of the problem. Cover......Page 1 Title page......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 9 1 Introduction......Page 11 2 The notion of natural language......Page 14 3 Conceptual investigation......Page 17 4 Language as a ‘universal medium’......Page 19 5 Linguistic communication and solipsism......Page 24 6 The mental and the physical......Page 27 7 The idea of artificial intelligence......Page 32 8 Machine behaviour and human action......Page 35 9 Turing's test......Page 40 10 Calculation versus mechanical symbol manipulation......Page 47 11 Deceptive criticism of AI......Page 50 12 Different senses of ‘action’......Page 55 13 Logical rules and conditions......Page 58 1 A priori theories of meaning versus naturalistic theories of language......Page 65 2 Theory of meaning versus conceptual investigation......Page 70 3 Confusion of the perspectives of linguistics and philosophy......Page 75 4 Some philosophical prejudices......Page 80 5 Languages with ‘specified structure’......Page 83 6 Form and content of sentences......Page 88 7 The notion of literal meaning......Page 95 8 Indeterminacy of the form of expressions......Page 101 9 Idealization in science and philosophy......Page 107 10 Sentences of a language versus formulas of a calculus......Page 111 11 Language-learning and rule-following......Page 119 12 The dispute over realism in mathematics......Page 131 1 Word-language and mathematical content......Page 141 2 The transfinite as an idealization......Page 147 3 Mathematical reality......Page 152 4 Potential infinity......Page 156 5 The finite and the infinite......Page 161 6 Form, function, and generality......Page 168 7 Mathematical induction......Page 177 8 Numbers and numerals......Page 187 9 Languages and formal systems......Page 193 10 Computability and decidability......Page 205 1 Language, mind, and machines......Page 219 2 Notions of language and theories of meaning......Page 223 3 Form and content in mathematics......Page 227 Bibliography......Page 233 Index......Page 237 This work examines problems about mind, meaning and mathematics rooted in preconceptions of language. Philosophical claims made by theorists of meaning are shown to be connected with common views about certain mathematical ideas or methods. Sören Stenlund. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 223-226) And Index.