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Single Idea 18412

[filed under theme 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 9. Indexical Semantics ]

Full Idea

We use sentences with indexicals or relativized propositions to individuate belief states, for the purposes of classifying believers in ways useful for explanation and prediction.

Gist of Idea

Indexicals individuate certain belief states, helping in explanation and prediction

Source

John Perry (The Problem of the Essential Indexical [1979], 'Obvious')

Book Ref

'Self-Knowledge', ed/tr. Cassam,Quassim [OUP 1994], p.181

A Reaction

He goes on to apparently connect this with some sort of moral integrity involved in 'owning up' to the fact that the person in question is you (who has spilled the sugar etc.).

The 15 ideas with the same theme [giving meanings for terms that obviously depend on context]:

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]