Title: Maps, Predication, and Alien Structure
By Matti Eklund (Uppsala, Philosophy)
Date: Thursday April 15, 2021
Time: 1430-1630 (GMT+3)
This is an online event. All are welcome. If you would like to listen to the talk please click on the following link when the event is due to begin.
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/99409150078?pwd=UkZmS1kyMHRJcXcyL1BoQkt0aFpHdz09
Meeting ID: 994 0915 0078 Passcode: 856917
Abstract: In the talk, I will do two things. First, I will introduce the general questions I am trying to address at the moment. Can there be languages structurally different from familiar ones – alien languages? Might the metaphysical structure of reality be better captured by some such language? Second, I will discuss a particular suggestion regarding how to make progress on these issues. In some recent discussions, e.g. Elisabeth Camp’s “Why Maps are Not Propositional”, it has been claimed that maps have a different sort of content from ordinary linguistic representations, and theorists have sought to describe just how maps differ. In particular, it has been claimed that maps do not employ predication. I will consider whether ideas from this discussion might help make sense of what an alien language might be like.
About the speaker: Matti Eklund is Chair Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at Uppsala University, Sweden. He works primarily in metaphysics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of logic. His work has appeared in such venues as Analysis, the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Philosophical Studies. In 2017, his book Normative Concepts was published by Oxford University Press.
Web: http://www.phil.bilkent.edu.tr/
