Anti-realism, anti-holism and rejection (Michael Dummett, Robert Brandom) [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3284197
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Gibbard, Peter John
- Description:
- 154 p.
- ISBN:
- 0493278621
- Summary:
-
Durnmett's suspicions about classical logic are based upon his view that a theory of meaning is adequate only if it is (in Durnmett's sense) a use theory. His critics have emphasized, however, that there are a variety of use theories that generate classical logic. To ascertain whether these critics succeed against Dummett, we need to consider a second demand he places on a theory of meaning--what we might call his anti-holism demand. The anti-holism demand says that a theory of meaning is adequate for the purpose of justifying deduction only if the theory does not exhibit a certain type of holism--a holism about the meanings of the logical constants. The problem is that Dummett's characterizations of the content and motivation of the anti-holism demand are notoriously unclear. In Chapter Two, I specify a motivation for the anti-holism demand--a specification that is at least inspired by Dummett's writings on logical holism.
This allows a characterization of the anti-holism demand that is sufficiently precise for the task of Chapter Three: to present Dummettian criticisms of various justifications of classical logic that employ use theories of meaning. Chapters Four, Five and Six contain the positive part of the project--to construct a use theory that satisfies Dummett's anti-holism demand. Brandom rejects Dummett's anti-holism demand because he thinks that any use theory that satisfies the demand will possess a certain defect. And Dummett himself, in moments of self-scrutiny, expresses reasons to be pessimistic about the possibility of constructing a use theory satisfying the anti-holism demand. In Chapter Five, I argue that Brandom's and Durnmett's pessimism is unfounded. The strategy is to construct what I call a dualist theory --a theory that generates not only the assertion conditions of sentences but also their rejection conditions.
Chapter Six provides a more technical presentation of the dualist theory.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI3016848
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-06, Section: A, page: 2134.
- Chair: Jamie Tappenden.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2001.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Philosophy
- Other authors/contributors:
- University of Michigan
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2001
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