Is Semantics in the Plan?
Is Semantics in the Plan?
This chapter focuses on the role and place of semantic notions such as reference, satisfaction, and truth in the Canberra program, and in its distinguished Lewisian parent. Notions such as reference and satisfaction appear to play crucial roles in Lewis’s development of the Ramsey–Carnap technique. However, it is arguable that these uses are eliminable, in a sense familiar from discussions of the pros and cons of deflationary approaches to truth and reference. If this is the case, Lewis’s own program is compatible with semantic deflationism, at least at this point. In view of the importance of Lewis’s program, and the popularity of deflationism, this is a significant conclusion. On the other hand, the “globalization” of Lewis’s technique envisaged by Jackson requires that semantic notions play the role played by causation in Lewis’s original. If this is the case, the global program becomes incompatible with semantic deflationism.
Keywords: semantic notions, reference, satisfaction, truth, Canberra program, Lewis, Ramsey–Carnap technique, deflationism, Jackson
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