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Journal ArticleDOI

Conceptual engineers shouldn’t worry about semantic externalism

TLDR
For example, the authors argues that if a certain kind of externalism is true, it might be nearly impossible to change what our words mean, even if we want to do so.
Abstract
Conceptual engineers sometimes say they want to change what our words mean. If a certain kind of externalism is true, it might be nearly impossible to do that. For some of the external factors that...

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

What is conceptual engineering and what should it be

TL;DR: Conceptual engineering should be understood as the design, implementation, and evaluation of concepts as mentioned in this paper, which includes or should include de novo conceptual engineering (designing a concept, implementing a concept and evaluating it).
Journal ArticleDOI

Conceptual Engineering and the Implementation Problem

TL;DR: This paper argues that the implementation problem dissolves if the authors expand their view of how conceptual engineers could implement the products of their work, and describes four implementation options: Standing Meaning, Meaning Modulation, Speaker-Meaning and Different Language.
Journal ArticleDOI

Engineering what? On concepts in conceptual engineering

TL;DR: In this article, the dual content view of conceptual engineering is proposed and discussed. But neither of these accounts can give us the full story, and neither of them can explain how conceptual engineers aim to revise rather than describe their concepts.
Journal ArticleDOI

Deflating the functional turn in conceptual engineering

TL;DR: This paper argues that this recent “functional turn” by conceptual engineers should be deflated, and that instead of trying to use substantive functions to solve theoretical problems, they should deflate those problems themselves by focusing only on what matters to us, as speakers or theorists, in a given inquiry.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

New work for a theory of universals

TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of universals is proposed for the theory of universal theory of knowledge. But this theory is based on a theory which is different from the one presented in this paper.
Book

Writing the Book of the World

TL;DR: This paper aims to explore the role that language plays in the development of a worldview and some examples show how language can play a role in shaping a person's worldview.
Journal ArticleDOI

What Metaphors Mean

Donald Davidson
- 01 Oct 1978 - 
TL;DR: The interpretation of a metaphor is as much a creative endeavor as making a metaphor, and as little guided by rules as mentioned in this paper, and the act of interpretation is itself a work of the imagination.
Book

Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique

TL;DR: In this article, a social constructionist analysis of race is presented, with a focus on the "debunking" of social construction, and a discussion of the meaning of race.