Skip Nav Destination
Close Modal
Update search
NARROW
Format
Subjects
Date
Availability
1-15 of 15
David Boersema
Close
Follow your search
Access your saved searches in your account
Would you like to receive an alert when new items match your search?
Sort by
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0001
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0002
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0003
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0004
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0005
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0006
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0007
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0008
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0009
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0010
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0011
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0012
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0013
EISBN: 9780262268882
Book: Pragmatism and Reference
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8023.003.0014
EISBN: 9780262268882
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 19 September 2008
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026604.001.0001
EISBN: 9780262268882
An argument that a pragmatist approach to reference offers a corrective to the prevailing analytic views on the topic. Despite a recent revival of interest in pragmatist philosophy, most work in the analytic philosophy of language ignores insights offered by classical pragmatists and contemporary neopragmatists. In Pragmatism and Reference , David Boersema argues that a pragmatist perspective on reference presents a distinct alternative—and corrective—to the prevailing analytic views on the topic. Boersema finds that the pragmatist approach to reference, with alternative understandings of the nature of language, the nature of conceptualization and categorization, and the nature of inquiry, is suggested in the work of Wittgenstein and more thoroughly developed in the works of such classical and contemporary pragmatists as Charles Peirce and Hilary Putnam. Boersema first discusses the descriptivist and causal theories of reference—the received views on the topic in analytic philosophy. Then, after considering Wittgenstein's approach to reference, Boersema details the pragmatist approach to reference by nine philosophers: the “Big Three,” of classical pragmatism, Peirce, William James, and John Dewey; three contemporary American philosophers, Putnam, Catherine Elgin, and Richard Rorty; and three important continental philosophers, Umberto Eco, Karl-Otto Apel, and Jürgen Habermas. Finally, Boersema shows explicitly how pragmatism offers a genuinely alternative account of reference, presenting several case studies on the nature and function of names. Here, he focuses on conceptions of individuation, similarity, essences, and sociality of language. Pragmatism and Reference will serve as a bridge between analytic and pragmatist approaches to such topics of shared concern as the nature and function of language.