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Full Idea
Mental files determine the reference of linguistic expressions: an expression refers to what the mental file associated with it refers to (at the time of tokening).
Gist of Idea
A linguistic expression refers to what its associated mental file refers to
Source
François Recanati (Mental Files in Flux [2016], 5)
Book Ref
Recanati,François: 'Mental Files in Flux' [OUP 2016], p.71
A Reaction
Invites the question of how mental files manage to refer, prior to the arrival of a linguistic expression. A mental file is usually fully of descriptions, but it might be no more than a label.
| 22242 | Mental files are concepts, which are either collections or (better) containers [Recanati] |
| 22243 | The Frege case of believing a thing is both F and not-F is explained by separate mental files [Recanati] |
| 22245 | A linguistic expression refers to what its associated mental file refers to [Recanati] |
| 22246 | A train of reasoning must be treated as all happening simultaneously [Recanati] |
| 22247 | Indexicality is not just a feature of language; examples show it also occurs in thought [Recanati] |
| 22248 | How can we communicate indexical thoughts to people not in the right context? [Recanati] |
| 22249 | The Naive view of communication is that hearers acquire exactly the thoughts of the speaker [Recanati] |
| 22250 | There are speakers' thoughts and hearers' thoughts, but no further thought attached to the utterance [Recanati] |