Abstrakt
This paper is a contribution to the debate concerning the kind of philosophical conclusions that can (or cannot) be derived from systematic empirical studies of intuitions about the reference of proper names. The focus of the paper is the famous study by Machery et al. (2004) in which intercultural differences in semantic intuitions between American and Chinese participants were observed. Machery et al. used the obtained results to question the usefulness of intuitions in philosophical discussions concerning the reference of proper names.
In this paper, I present the results of my own philosophical-experimental studies aimed at analyzing methods used in research dedicated to the problem of reference rather than semantic intuitions as such. These results indicate a significant instability of responses regarding the reference of proper names and their susceptibility to the impact of philosophically insignificant factors. Based on the collected data, I argue that methods used in experimental studies concerning the reference of proper names conducted to date do not guarantee the assessment of intuitions of the desired kind.
Bibliografia
Alexander, J. (2012), Experimental Philosophy. An Introduction, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bealer, G. (1998), Intuition and the Autonomy of Philosophy, w: M. DePaul, W. Ramsey (eds.), Rethinking Intuition: The Psychology of Intuition and Its Role in Philosophical Inquiry, New York: Rowman & Littlefield, s. 201–240.
Beebe, J.R., Undercoffer, R.J. (2016), Individual and Cross-Cultural Differences in Semantic Intuitions: New Experimental Findings, „Journal of Cognition and Culture” 16(3–4), s. 322–357.
Cappelen, H. (2013), Philosophy Without Intuitions, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, D. (1973), Radical Interpretation, „Dialectica” 27, s. 314–328.
Deutsch, M. (2009), Experimental Philosophy and the Theory of Reference, „Mind and Language” 24(4), s. 445–466.
Devitt, M. (2011), Experimental Semantics, „Philosophy and Phenomenological Research” 82(2), s. 418–435.
Frege, G. (1997), Sens i znaczenie, w: tegoż, Pisma semantyczne, przeł. B. Wolniewicz, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, s. 60–88.
Grice, H.P. (1975), Logic and Conversation, w: Cole, P., Morgan, J. (eds.), Syntax and Semantics, vol. 3, New York: Academic Press, s. 41–58.
Jackman, H. (2009), Semantic Intuitions, Conceptual Analysis, and Cross-Cultural Variation, „Philosophical Studies” 146(2), s. 159–177.
Kim, M., Yuan, Y. (2015), No Cross-Cultural Differences in the Gettier Car Case Intuition: A Replication study of Weinberg et al. 2001, „Episteme” 12(3), s. 355–361.
Knobe, J., Nichols, S. (2008), An Experimental Philosophy Manifesto, w: J. Knobe, S., Nichols (eds.), Experimental Philosophy, vol. 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, s. 3–14.
Kripke, S. (1972), Naming and Necessity, w: D. Davidson, G. Harman (eds.), Semantics of Natural Language, Dordrecht: Reidel, s. 253–355.
Lam, B. (2010), Are Cantonese-Speakers Really Descriptivists? Revisiting cross-cultural semantics, „Cognition” 115, s. 320–329.
Lewis D. (1979), Scorekeeping in a Language Game, w: R. Baüerle, U. Egli, A. von Stechow (eds.), Semantics from a Different Point of View. Berlin: Springer, s. 172–187.
Ludwig, K. (2007), The Epistemology of Thought Experiments: First Person versus Third Person Approaches, „Midwest Studies in Philosophy” 31, s. 128–159.
Ludwig, K. (2010), Intuitions and Relativity, „Philosophical Psychology” 23(4), s. 427– 445.
Lycan, W. G. (1999), Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction, Londyn: Routledge.
Machery, E. (2012), Expertise and Intuitions about Reference, „Theoria” 27(1), s. 37–54.
Machery, E., Deutsch, M., Mallon, R., Nichols, S., Sytsma, J., Stich, S. (2010), Semantic Intuitions: Reply to Lam, „Cognition” 117, s. 361–366.
Machery, E., Deutsch, M., Sytsma, J. (2015), Speaker’s Reference and Cross-Cultural Semantics, w: Bianchi, A. (ed.), On reference, Oxford: Oxford University Press, s. 62–76.
Machery, E., Mallon, R., Nichols, S., Stich, S. (2004), Semantics, Cross-Cultural Style, „Cognition” 92, s. B1–B12.
Machery, E., Olivola, C. Y., De Blanc, M. (2009), Linguistic and Metalinguistic Intuitions in the Philosophy of Language, „Analysis” 69(4), s. 689–694.
Martí, G. (2009), Against Semantic Multi-Culturalism, „Analysis” 69(1), s. 42–48.
Muszyński, Z. (2000), Komunikacja i znaczenie: semantyczny aspekt komunikacji, Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.
Nadelhoffer T., Nahmias E. (2007), The Past and Future of Experimental Philosophy, „Philosophical Explorations” 10, s. 123–149.
Searle, J. (1958), Proper Names, „Mind” 67, s. 166–173.
Seyedsayamdost, H. (2015), On Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions: Failure of Replication, „Episteme” 12(1), s. 95–116.
Sytsma, J., Livengood, J. (2011), A New Perspective Concerning Experiments on Semantic Intuitions, „Australasian Journal of Philosophy” 89(2), s. 315–332.
Weinberg, J. M., Nichols, S., Stich, S. (2001), Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions, „Philosophical Topics” 29(1–2), s. 429–460.
Weinberg, J., Alexander, J. (2014), The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions through Thick and Thin, w: Booth, A., Rowbottom, D. (eds.), Intuitions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, s. 187–212.
Williamson, T. (2007), The Philosophy of Philosophy, Malden, MA: Blackwell.