Our use of expressions such as apparent paradox, false teeth, fake orgasm and the like seems to imply that there are objects which are and are not a certain thing. It will be argued that this apparent paradox paradox is only an apparent one. Drawing on insights from mental space theory, polyphony, conversational pragmatics and frame semantics, I will adopt and adapt a recent proposal of how best to deal with privative adjectives like fake, false and fictitious. A central notion in my account is that of perspective-taking, which may help us to solve a wide range of puzzling phenomena, including the problem of negative existentials, as in “Unicorns do not exist”, and possibly even the most fiendish of all paradoxes, the Liar paradox: “This statement is not true”.I know I promised earlier to give my "solution" (for what it's worth) of the Liar paradox, but I'm still tinkering with it.
Showing posts with label privative adjectives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privative adjectives. Show all posts
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
the "apparent paradox" paradox
On 23rd October, I'll be giving a talk in Lille on "Conceptual blending: the apparent paradox paradox". Here's an abstract of my talk:
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