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Why Language Exists: Stating the Obvious
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| Translated Title: |
Why Language Exists: Stating the Obvious |
| Publication: |
Croatian Journal of Philosophy
(34/2012) |
| Author Name: |
McDonald, Fritz J.;
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| Language: |
English |
| Subject: |
Philosophy |
| Issue: |
34/2012 |
| Page Range: |
1-12 |
| No. of Pages: |
12 |
| File size: |
130
KB |
Download Fee:
(only for
non-subscribers) |
4 Euro (€) |
| Summary: |
There are words. There are sentences. There are languages. Commonsense
linguistic realism is the conjunction of the three preceding claims.
Linguists and philosophers including Noam Chomsky (1986, 2000),
Georges Rey (2006, 2008), and Barry C. Smith (2006) have presented
skeptical doubts regarding the existence of linguistic entities. These
doubts provide no good reason to deny commonsense linguistic realism.
Some skeptical doubts are in fact not directed at the metaphysical thesis
of commonsense linguistic realism but rather only at non-metaphysical
methodological concerns. In some instances, linguistic antirealists make
their case by foisting upon the realist assumptions that she need not hold
regarding the nature of linguistic entities. Furthermore, those who have
denied the existence of linguistic entities have not themselves presented
an alternative account of words, sentences, or languages that is coherent
or defensible. I present an elaboration and defense of commonsense
linguistic realism as a metaphysical thesis, with the aim of defl ating
concerns that have arisen about the existence of language. |
| Keywords: |
linguistics; metaphysics; ontology; language; realism;
methodology; Georges Rey; Barry C. Smith |
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