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Full Idea
The class of indexicals have the same property as mental files, that their reference is determined relationally rather than satisfactionally.
Clarification
'Satisfaction' would involve meeting some criterion
Gist of Idea
Indexicals (like mental files) determine their reference relationally, not by satisfaction
Source
François Recanati (Mental Files [2012], 5.1)
Book Ref
Recanati,François: 'Mental Files' [OUP 2012], p.57
A Reaction
Recanati is building an account of reference through mental files. This idea may be the clearest point I have yet encountered about indexicals, showing why they are of particular interest to philosophers.
19233 | Indexicals are unusual words, because they stimulate the hearer to look around [Peirce] |
21550 | Science reduces indexicals to a minimum, but they can never be eliminated from empirical matters [Russell] |
7769 | You can state truth-conditions for "I am sick now" by relativising it to a speaker at a time [Davidson, by Lycan] |
12151 | If we replace 'I' in sentences about me, they are different beliefs and explanations of behaviour [Perry] |
18412 | Indexicals individuate certain belief states, helping in explanation and prediction [Perry] |
22418 | I can know indexical truths a priori, unlike their non-indexical paraphrases [McGinn] |
6899 | The references of indexicals ('there', 'now', 'I') depend on the circumstances of utterance [Mautner] |
15605 | I take indexicals such as 'this' and 'that' to be linked to some associated demonstration [Fine,K] |
22932 | We don't just describe a time as 'now' from a private viewpoint, but as a fact about the world [Le Poidevin] |
16389 | If two people think 'I am tired', they think the same thing, and they think different things [Recanati] |
16364 | Indexical don't refer; only their tokens do [Recanati] |
16363 | Indexicals (like mental files) determine their reference relationally, not by satisfaction [Recanati] |
18408 | Indexicals are just non-constant in meaning, and don't involve any special concepts [Cappelen/Dever] |
18414 | Fregeans say 'I' differs in reference, so it must also differ in sense [Cappelen/Dever] |
18423 | All indexicals can be expressed non-indexically [Cappelen/Dever] |