CFP: Workshop on Multipropositionalism

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Workshop on Multipropositionalism

September 29-30, 2022, University of Lisbon

Keynote speaker: Ray Buchanan



Semantic theories have often assumed that sentences semantically express at most one proposition (relative to a context of utterance). However, it has been argued that certain phenomena are better explained by theories that reject this assumption. The Multiple Proposition View, or Multipropositionalism (MP), is the view that sentences can semantically express more than one proposition (relative to a context of utterance). MP has been been discussed or proposed to deal with problems having to do with cognitive significance (Perry 2001), semantic underdetermination (Buchanan 2010, Bowker 2019, Viebahn 2018), semantic plasticity (Dorr and Hawthorne 2014) or speech reports (Davies forthcoming, Picazo forthcoming). In other cases, MP is motivated by the semantics of certain expressions, as complex demonstratives (Dever 2001), or proper names (Corazza 2002, Delgado 2019). In all these versions of MP, an utterance can have as its semantic content more than one proposition. This phenomenon is identified as different from those cases in which in addition to a proposition semantically expressed, there are others that are pragmatically communicated, or implicated, or presupposed.

The aim of the workshop is to explore Multipropositionalism and the phenomena that motivate it. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:



     . Which phenomena, or the semantics of which expressions, involve multiple propositions?

     . What are the semantic mechanisms that yield multiple propositions?

     . Do different phenomena call for different MP theories? What are the differences among these theories? What advantage will MP have over other standard views?

     . Do speakers mean multiple propositions? How does MP fit in the Gricean view of communication?



The workshop will be a two-days in presence event (circumstances permitting) and will take place at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, on the 29th and 30th of September 2022.


We welcome abstracts of around 500 words long, prepared for blind review, suitable for a 40-minutes presentation. Please submit your abstract and a separate document with your personal details, by June 10 2022, to [email protected]



Important dates:

Submission deadline: June 10, 2022

Decision of acceptance: July 15, 2022

Workshop: September 29-30, 2022



Organizers (feel free to write to us if you have any questions)

. Laura Delgado, LanCog, Centre of Philosophy, University of Lisbon ([email protected])

. Claudia Picazo, UNED, Madrid, ([email protected])

 
This workshop is funded by Portuguese national funds from FCT: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P, within the project ‘Polyreference: Its Logic and Application’. We strongly encourage underrepresented minorities in philosophy to apply.