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Indexicals
Introduction to Pragmatics
Elizabeth Coppock
HHU, Summer 2012
Indexicals
Indexical: A word whose referent is dependent
on the context of use, which provides a rule
which determines the referent in terms of
certain aspects of the context.
(Kaplan 1977, Demonstratives, p. 490)
Demonstratives
Demonstrative: An indexical that requires an
associated demonstration.
Pure Indexical
Pure indexical: An indexical for which no
demonstration is required.
Directly referential
An expression is directly referential if its
referent, once determined, is taken as fixed for
all possible circumstances.
(Like Kripkes rigid designators)
Alternative World 2
Alternative World 1
true
tru
false
Said by me today:
The president is a Democrat
Alternative World 5
Alternative World 3
Alternative World 4
true
false
true
Said by me today:
Barack Obama is a Democrat
Alternative World 2
Alternative World 1
true
tru
true
Said by me today:
Barack Obama is a Democrat
Alternative World 5
Alternative World 3
Alternative World 4
true
true
true
Alternative World 2
Alternative World 1
true
true
true
Alternative World 5
Alternative World 3
Alternative World 4
true
true
true
Conclusion
Barack Obama designates the same individual
in every possible world; it is directly referential.
(Complication)
There are so-called descriptive uses of indexicals.
Says a prisoner on death row (Nunberg):
I am traditionally allowed a last meal.
[I a person on death row.]
Alternative World 5
I am a Democrat
Actual World
Context:
Speaker=Obama: true
Context:
Speaker=Obama: true
Speaker=McCain:
false
Speaker=McCain: true
Direct Reference
The word I, uttered by Barack Obama (or
whoever), picks out the same individual in every
possible world / circumstance of evaluation.
Fixed/Variable Meaning
The meaning of an indexical like "I" is:
Fixed across all circumstances of evaluation
Variable across contexts of use
Same or different
meaning?
May 11, 2010:
I am turning 30
today.
I am turning 30
today.
Same or different
meaning?
May 11, 2010:
I am turning 30
today.
I turned 30
yesterday.
Frege's answer
If somebody wants to say the same today as he
expressed yesterday using the word today, he
must replace this word with yesterday.
Although the thought is the same its verbal
expression must be different so that the sense,
which would otherwise be affected by the
differing times of utterance, is readjusted.
I am turning 30
today.
I am turning 30
today.
I am turning 30
today.
I turned 30
yesterday.
The king of
France is wise.
The king of
France is wise.
Impossibility
Something that is possible is true in at least
one possible world.
Alternative World 8
Alternative World 7
I am here now
This is a logical truth, in the sense that
whenever it is uttered, it is true.
Solution
Indexicals have descriptive meaning, but this
meaning is relevant only to determining a
referent in a context of use and not to
determining a relevant individual in a
circumstance of evaluation.
What is a content?
The content of a sentence is a proposition.
A proposition is a set of possible worlds, or a
mapping from possible worlds to truth values.
e.g. {w1, w3, w4}
What is a character?
The character of a sentence is something that,
given a context of utterance, gives you a
content.
Kaplan's Reflections on
Demonstratives
In [Demonstratives], I tried to show that by
adding context as a parameter, Strawson's
"conventions for referring" as he calls them,
even if neglected by logicians, could be
accommodated within the range of our methods.
And at the time I regarded my work as
extending current semantical methods just to
the degree necessary to incorporate the
indexicals. I regarded what I was doing as a sort
of epicycle on Carnap's method of extension and
intension and I didn't think of it as involving any
different conception of semantics or what
semantics was supposed to do.
Kaplan's Reflections on
Demonstratives, cont'd
Some years ago, it occurred to me that the
analysis of indexicals in Demonstratives could
be seen as the scientific realization of a
Strawsonian semantics of use. Ask not after
other-worldly meanings, ask only after rules of
use.