In defence of modesty

John McDowell

pp. 59-80

in: Barry M. Taylor (ed), Michael Dummett, Berlin, Springer, 1987

Abstract

A modest theory of meaning for a language — in the technical sense introduced by Michael Dummett — is one that gives no account of the concepts expressed by primitive terms of the language. We should note that the use of "concepts' here is not Fregean, in two ways. First, Fregean concepts are associated only with predicative expressions, whereas Dummett's considerations are meant to apply to meaningful expressions in general. Second, Fregean concepts belong to the realm of reference, whereas the concepts Dummett is concerned with would belong to the realm of sense; they are determinants of content — determinants of the thoughts expressible by sentences containing the associated words.

Cited authors

Frege Gottlob

Dummett Michael