PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Philosophy of Language 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to Frege, the 'sense' (Sinn) of an expression is best described as:
- The physical object it refers to
- The mode of presentation by which the referent is determined (Correct answer)
- The emotional response it evokes in listeners
- The grammatical category of the expression
Correct answer: The mode of presentation by which the referent is determined
Frege distinguished sense as the mode of presentation—the way the referent is determined—from reference (Bedeutung), which is the object itself.
Question 2: Bertrand Russell's theory of definite descriptions analyzes 'The present King of France is bald' as:
- Meaningless because France has no king
- True, since it refers to a non-existent entity
- False, because it asserts existence, uniqueness, and a property, and the existence claim fails (Correct answer)
- Neither true nor false due to presupposition failure
Correct answer: False, because it asserts existence, uniqueness, and a property, and the existence claim fails
For Russell, 'The F is G' is analyzable as 'there exists exactly one F, and it is G'—so the sentence is false when no such entity exists.
Question 3: Which philosopher argued that the meaning of a word is its use, understood through participation in 'language games'?
- Gottlob Frege
- Bertrand Russell
- Ludwig Wittgenstein (Correct answer)
- W.V.O. Quine
Correct answer: Ludwig Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein's later philosophy in Philosophical Investigations holds that the meaning of a word is determined by how it is used within social practices he called 'language games.'
Question 4: J.L. Austin's speech act theory identifies 'illocutionary acts' as:
- The physical production of sounds or written marks
- The action performed in saying something, such as promising or warning (Correct answer)
- The effect produced in the listener as a result of the utterance
- The syntactic structure underlying the sentence
Correct answer: The action performed in saying something, such as promising or warning
Austin distinguished locutionary (saying something), illocutionary (acting in saying—promising, asserting, ordering), and perlocutionary acts (effects on the hearer).
Question 5: Grice's maxim of Quantity states that a speaker should:
- Avoid ambiguous or obscure expressions
- Be polite and considerate toward the listener
- Make their contribution as informative as required, but not more so (Correct answer)
- Only assert what they believe to be true
Correct answer: Make their contribution as informative as required, but not more so
The maxim of Quantity governs informativeness: say enough for the purpose but not more, enabling hearers to draw implicatures when speakers appear to violate it.
Question 6: The primary difference between semantics and pragmatics is that semantics studies:
- How context shapes the interpretation of utterances
- The effects of language on human behavior
- The conventional, context-independent meanings of linguistic expressions (Correct answer)
- Social norms and rules governing conversation
Correct answer: The conventional, context-independent meanings of linguistic expressions
Semantics concerns the literal, conventional meanings of words and sentences independently of context, while pragmatics examines how context contributes to interpretation.
Question 7: Which theory holds that the meaning of a proper name is given by a cluster of descriptions that speakers associate with its bearer?
- The causal-historical theory of reference
- The cluster description theory, associated with Searle and the later Wittgenstein (Correct answer)
- Kripke's rigid designator theory
- Tarski's semantic theory of truth
Correct answer: The cluster description theory, associated with Searle and the later Wittgenstein
The cluster description theory holds that a name refers to whatever object best satisfies a weighted cluster of descriptions held by speakers, contrasting with causal theories.
PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Philosophy of Language 1
According to Frege, the 'sense' (Sinn) of an expression is best described as: