Description
Book SynopsisThis book includes famous papers such as 'The Problem of the Essential Indexical' and 'Frege on Demonstratives' and 'Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference'; papers co-authored with Mark Crimmins ('The Prince and the Phone Booth') and David Israel ('Fodor on Psychological Explanations') and related papers on situation semantics, direct reference, and the structure of belief. Perry has added 'afterwords' that discuss responses to his work by Gareth Evans, Robert Stalnaker, Barbara Partee, Howard Wettstein and others. The word 'I' is called an 'indexical' which means who it stands for depends on who says it, not just on its meaning. Other indexicals are 'you', 'here' and 'now'. Perry discusses how these words work, and why they express important philosophical thoughts. He claims that indexicals pose a challenge to traditional assumptions about language and thought, and for that reason a number of these papers sparked lively debates.
Table of Contents1. Indexicals, contexts and unarticulated constituents; 2. Reality without reference; 3. Evading the slingshot; 4. Broadening the mind; 5. Myself and I; 6. Reflexivity, indexicality and names; 7. Rip Van Winkle and other characters; 8. Frege on demonstratives; 9. The problem of the essential indexical; 10. Belief and acceptance; 11. A problem about continued belief; 12. Castandeda on he and I; 13. Perception, action, and the structure of believing; 14. From worlds to situations; 15. Possible worlds to situations; 16. Circumstantial attitudes and benevolent cognition; 17. Thought without representation; 18. Cognitive significance and new theories of reference; 19. The prince and the phone booth; 20. Individuals in Informational and Intentional content; 21. Fodor and psychological explanations; References; Index.
