Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

178058

A context principle for the twenty-first century

Fabrizio Cariani

pp. 183-203

Abstract

Taking a lead from Eva Picardi's work and influence, I investigate the significance of Frege's context principle for the philosophy of language (setting aside its role in Frege's argument for mathematical platonism). I argue that there are some interpretive problems with recent meta-semantic interpretations of the principle. Instead, I offer a somewhat weaker alternative: the context principle is a tool to license certain definitions. Moreover, I claim that it merely lays out one of many possible ways of licensing a definition. This means, among other things, that despite Frege's imperative injunctions, the context principle formulates a permission—not a requirement.

Publication details

Published in:

Coliva Annalisa, Leonardi Paolo, Moruzzi Sebastiano (2018) Eva Picardi on language, analysis and history. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 183-203

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-95777-7_8

Full citation:

Cariani Fabrizio (2018) „A context principle for the twenty-first century“, In: A. Coliva, P. Leonardi & S. Moruzzi (eds.), Eva Picardi on language, analysis and history, Dordrecht, Springer, 183–203.