The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Indrek Reiland, Universität Wien and Helsingfors University. Reiland will speak on the topic of "What is it to Use a Word?"
Abstract
What is it, in producing a sound (mark, bodily movement), to use a word? Relatedly, what is it for a produced sound to count as an articulation of a word? The most common suggestion is that this has something to do with the speaker’s articulatory intentions: the intention to repeat a previous use (Kaplan 1990) or simply the intention to use a word (Hawthorne & Lepore 2011). On some versions of the view, intention isn’t wholly constitutive - the product (sound etc.) also has to satisfy conventional standards specifying the canonical articulation, within limits of toleration (Hawthorne & Lepore 2011). Recent alternatives appeal instead to psychological processes like lexical selection (Munroe 2022, Stojnic 2022) or utterance scores (Gasparri 2026).
In this talk I will first offer two ways of working out the common suggestion and defend one of them over the other. On the offered view, to use a word is to intend, in making a sound, to put a rule in force that requires the sound to match a canonical articulation. I'll then pit the view against the recent alternatives and discuss their pros and cons."
About the seminar series
This seminar is intended primarily for presentations of PhD work and other research in philosophy conducted at the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. Guest lectures sometimes take place in the seminar as well. The seminars are given in English and all interested are welcome to attend these events.
