Formal Semantics and Philosophical Logic

Michael Deigan (Rutgers): Bad Concepts, Bilateral Contents


Speaker: Michael Deigan (Rutgers)
Title: Bad Concepts, Bilateral Contents
Date:
Time: 16:00 - 17:30
Location: Online, via Zoom

This meeting will take place via Zoom. To join the meeting, click https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/84481890578.

 

Abstract

Some philosophers (like Kevin Scharp) have proposed that concepts themselves—not just the propositions or beliefs they figure into—can be inconsistent, and thereby defective. Others (like Herman Cappelen) have rejected this proposal for relying on inferentialism. I argue that what's needed for the proposal is not inferentialism, but rather bilateralism. This means that even those of us are not inferentialists can take this kind of inconsistency to be a source of conceptual defectiveness. However, I also argue that we are left with a puzzle for explaining what would make this kind of inconsistency a defect.