What is Said -- What is Meant

SPEAKERS:

What is Said:

- Elisabeth Camp (Rutgers University)

- Christopher Gauker (University of Salzburg)

- Katarzyna Jaszczolt (University of Cambridge)

- Max Kölbel (ICREA/LOGOS/University of Barcelona)

- John MacFarlane (University of California, Berkeley)

- Anders Schoubye (University of Edinburgh)

- Isidora Stojanovic (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris)

- Andreas Stokke (Umeå University, Sweden)

What is Meant:

- Jonas Åkerman (Stockholm University)

- Roberta Colonna Dahlman (Lund Univesity)

- Torfinn Huvenes (University of Oslo)

- Dan López de Sa (ICREA/LOGOS/University of Barcelona)

- Hazel Pearson (ZAS Berlin)

- Judith Tonhauser (Ohio State University)

- Matthew Weiner (University of Vermont)

THEME:

The notions of what is said and what is meant play an important role in everyday communication. We refer to what somebody has said and evaluate whether it is interesting or boring, precise or imprecise, true or false. And we distinguish from it what somebody has meant either on top of what she said or instead of it and here again evaluate it along different dimensions.

The notions of what is said and what is meant also play an important theoretical role in many disciplines of philosophical interest. There is not only the long tradition in philosophy of language and linguistics to investigate these notions in an effort to come up with plausible theories of meaning and communication. There is also a rather new trend in, for instance, aesthetics, epistemology, ethics and metaphysics to use them to state, defend or bring down certain popular (or not so popular) views, like objectivism or relativism.

The prominence in everyday life and the increasing significance in various fields of philosophy has led to a revival of interest in the two notions themselves. Theorists from all kinds of areas of philosophy and linguistics have made them the subject of independent studies. The conference What is Said - What is Meant brings these theorists together to create an opportunity to discuss the notions of what is said and what is meant across the boundaries of various areas of specialization.