Can Compositionality Solve the Thought-or-Language Problem?

Autor(es)

Krempel, Raquel

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS; v. 48, n. 2, p. 265-291, MAY 4 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Jerry Fodor has claimed to have a solution to the traditional problem of what comes first, thought or language. Compositionality, he says, will give us the answer, for at least one must be compositional, and if only one of them is, that is the one that has underived semantic content. He argues that natural languages are not compositional, and therefore that the content of language is derived from the content of thought. I will argue that the idea that language is not compositional conflicts with his productivity and systematicity arguments for the existence of a language of thought. I will also show that Fodor's solution to the problem fails, as his main argument is circular. Finally, I suggest that Fodor's argument against the compositionality of language is not decisive, and that we can still attribute at least some degree of compositionality to language. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/15037-0 - A relação entre pensamento e linguagem a partir de Jerry Fodor
• Beneficiário: Raquel Albieri Krempel
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado