Language and Philosophical Problems

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