Product Description

"Philosophy of Language: a Contemporary Introduction" introduces the student to the main issues and theories in twentieth-century philosophy of language, focusing specifically on linguistic phenomena. The topics are structured in three parts in the book. Part I, Reference and Referring Expressions, includes topics such as Russell's Theory of Descriptions, Donnellan's distinction, problems of anaphora, the description theory of proper names, Searle's cluster theory, and the causal-historical theory. Part II, Theories of Meaning, surveys the competing theories of linguistic meaning and compares their various advantages and liabilities. Part III, Pragmatics and Speech Acts, introduces the basic concepts of linguistic pragmatics, includes a detailed discussion of the problem of indirect force and surveys approaches to metaphor. Part IV, new to this edition, examines the four theories of metaphor.The features of "Philosophy of Language" include: new chapters on Frege and puzzles, inferentialism, illocutionary theories of meaning and relevance; theory chapter overviews and summaries; clear supportive examples; study questions; and, an annotated further reading glossary. Praise for the First Edition: 'This exceptional text fulfills two essential criteria of a good introductory textbook in the philosophy of language: it covers a broad range of topics well, all of which are the basis of current active research, and does so in an accurate manner accessible to undergraduate students' - Mike Harnish, University of Arizona. '...an excellent textbook for teaching. the examples throughout are delightful and students will love them' - Edwin Mares, Victoria University of Wellington.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86149 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

From the Back Cover

Philosophy of Language: a Contemporary Introduction introduces the student to the main issues and theories in twentieth and twenty-first-century philosophy of language, focusing specifically on linguistic phenomena.

Topics are structured in four parts in the book. Part I, Reference and Referring, includes topics such as Russell's Theory of Desciptions, Donnellan's distinction, problems of anaphora, the description theory of proper names, Searle's cluster theory, and the causal-historical theory. Part II, Theories of Meaning, surveys the competing theories of linguistic meaning and compares their various advantages and liabilities. Part III, Pragmatics and Speech Acts, introduces the basic concepts of linguistic pragmatics, includes a detailed discussion of the problem of indirect force and surveys approaches to metaphor. Part IV, new to this edition, examines the four theories of metaphor.

Features of Philosophy of Language include:

• New chapters on Frege and puzzles, inferentialism, illocutionary theories of meaning and relevance theory
• chapter overviews and summaries
• clear supportive examples
• study questions
• annotated further reading
• glossary

About the Author

William G. Lycan is William Rand Kenan Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of over 150 articles as well as seven books.

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to the philosophy of language
This book is truly a great introduction to a subject, that requires a great deal of work to fully comprehend. A book which thoroughly introduces the thoughts of Kripke, Russell, Frege and others will have its work cut out for it. However Lycan manages to keep you connected. He writes with a magnificent flow and a great deal of humor. He emphasises the examples, and raises some interesting objections to the various theories including some of his own. And these personal objections makes the book interesting even to those who already have some insight in the philosophy of language.
I study philosophy at the University of Southern Denmark, and this is where I was introduced to the book, which I guess can serve as a testament to the books content and readability.