It’s really irresponsible for people to describe it as a ‘nazi salute’ without having read nick shea’s representation in cognitive science, and hence having no empirically informed metasemantics of public signs at all
January 21, 2025 at 1:33 AM
It’s really irresponsible for people to describe it as a ‘nazi salute’ without having read nick shea’s representation in cognitive science, and hence having no empirically informed metasemantics of public signs at all
it annoys me that “metasemantics” is ambiguous between “foundations of semantics” and “how the contents of particular semantically underdetermined expressions get resolved”. I propose we reserve “metasemantics” for the former and introduce “parasemantics” for the latter
December 21, 2024 at 4:50 PM
it annoys me that “metasemantics” is ambiguous between “foundations of semantics” and “how the contents of particular semantically underdetermined expressions get resolved”. I propose we reserve “metasemantics” for the former and introduce “parasemantics” for the latter
yeah it's a metasemantics of ethical talk, duh
It's a mistake to think of metaethics as a metaphysics of ethics #PhilSky
October 14, 2023 at 3:43 PM
yeah it's a metasemantics of ethical talk, duh
This collection of essays, edited by @panuraatikainen.bsky.social, and containing also a piece by Vilma Venesmaa and myself, ”Unified (Enough) Metasemantics for Expressivists,” is now available, open access. #Philosophy #Philsky
The 100th volume of Acta Philosophica Fennica, "Essays in the Philosophy of Language", edited by Panu Raatikainen and with, among others, many Tampere philosophers, is now openly accessible:
#Philosophy #PhilSky
philpapers.org/rec/RAAEIT
#Philosophy #PhilSky
philpapers.org/rec/RAAEIT
Panu Raatikainen (ed.), _Essays in the Philosophy of Language._ Acta Philosophica Fennica Vol. 100. - PhilPapers
Table of Contents: Panu Raatikainen: Varieties of Ideal Language Philosophy. Jani Sinokki: Descartes on Language: How Signification Leads to Direct Reference. Matti Eklund: Carnapian Frameworks Revisi...
philpapers.org
December 9, 2024 at 3:18 PM
This collection of essays, edited by @panuraatikainen.bsky.social, and containing also a piece by Vilma Venesmaa and myself, ”Unified (Enough) Metasemantics for Expressivists,” is now available, open access. #Philosophy #Philsky
Am I right in thinking that David Kaplan's METAsemantics of expressives (ouch/oops paper) has received way less attention/development than its semantics?
Semantics: v v developed by Potts/McCready/Gutzmann. Metasemantics taken seriously by Beaver/Stanley — who else?
🐦🐦 #philsky
Semantics: v v developed by Potts/McCready/Gutzmann. Metasemantics taken seriously by Beaver/Stanley — who else?
🐦🐦 #philsky
March 10, 2024 at 9:23 PM
Am I right in thinking that David Kaplan's METAsemantics of expressives (ouch/oops paper) has received way less attention/development than its semantics?
Semantics: v v developed by Potts/McCready/Gutzmann. Metasemantics taken seriously by Beaver/Stanley — who else?
🐦🐦 #philsky
Semantics: v v developed by Potts/McCready/Gutzmann. Metasemantics taken seriously by Beaver/Stanley — who else?
🐦🐦 #philsky
Found a really old paper that argues that chatbots are props that people use to engage in games of make-believe. This seems like a plausible analysis: journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article...
Fictionalism about Chatbots
According to widely accepted views in metasemantics, the outputs of chatbots and other artificial text generators should be meaningless. They aren’t produced with communicative intentions and the syst...
journals.publishing.umich.edu
October 5, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Found a really old paper that argues that chatbots are props that people use to engage in games of make-believe. This seems like a plausible analysis: journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article...
well the metasemantics is *definitely* 100% pragmatics
June 2, 2024 at 8:08 AM
well the metasemantics is *definitely* 100% pragmatics
Went to a seminar on metasemantics and metametasemantics and, well, I just love this stuff. It’s just so much fun to think about.
August 24, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Went to a seminar on metasemantics and metametasemantics and, well, I just love this stuff. It’s just so much fun to think about.
I think there are some widespread implications for our understandings of nonsense, metasemantics, and metaphilosophy.
April 14, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I think there are some widespread implications for our understandings of nonsense, metasemantics, and metaphilosophy.
Metasemantics of character vs. metasemantics of content?
December 21, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Metasemantics of character vs. metasemantics of content?
📣From Kyle Landrum:
Good Explanations and the Causal Metasemantics of Inductive Concepts
Good Explanations and the Causal Metasemantics of Inductive Concepts
Good Explanations and the Causal Metasemantics of Inductive Concepts
Abstract. A metasemantic theory tells us why a particular concept has its particular content, for example, why the concept orang-utan has orang-utans as it
academic.oup.com
August 14, 2025 at 10:45 PM
📣From Kyle Landrum:
Good Explanations and the Causal Metasemantics of Inductive Concepts
Good Explanations and the Causal Metasemantics of Inductive Concepts
New paper: If some form of social externalism is true, what reasons are there to think that it’s knowledge domain experts (rather than, say, propagandists) who determine meanings? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Experts, virtuous and vicious: the case for virtue metasemantics - Synthese
Synthese - Many externalists accept that experts play a privileged role in determining linguistic meanings. It’s widely assumed that the experts in question are those members of the language...
link.springer.com
March 27, 2026 at 7:11 AM
New paper: If some form of social externalism is true, what reasons are there to think that it’s knowledge domain experts (rather than, say, propagandists) who determine meanings? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
My paper in Synthese is out: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Problems for ‘standard’ dispositionalist accounts of semantic content - Synthese
A popular view in metasemantics is the view that a speaker’s dispositions regarding the use of a symbol determine the meaning of that symbol for the speaker. Kripke (Wittgenstein on rules and private ...
link.springer.com
January 17, 2025 at 9:22 AM
My paper in Synthese is out: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
All I want in life is to:
1 live in a democracy
2 figure out the metasemantics of social meaning
3 go backpacking a bunch
4 learn modicum of self-care
5 fall in love w/ someone who doesn't mind that I'm crazy sometimes
6 read a lot of books
7 see a lot of movies
8 have dog
9 learn Japanese
1 live in a democracy
2 figure out the metasemantics of social meaning
3 go backpacking a bunch
4 learn modicum of self-care
5 fall in love w/ someone who doesn't mind that I'm crazy sometimes
6 read a lot of books
7 see a lot of movies
8 have dog
9 learn Japanese
February 8, 2025 at 9:53 PM
All I want in life is to:
1 live in a democracy
2 figure out the metasemantics of social meaning
3 go backpacking a bunch
4 learn modicum of self-care
5 fall in love w/ someone who doesn't mind that I'm crazy sometimes
6 read a lot of books
7 see a lot of movies
8 have dog
9 learn Japanese
1 live in a democracy
2 figure out the metasemantics of social meaning
3 go backpacking a bunch
4 learn modicum of self-care
5 fall in love w/ someone who doesn't mind that I'm crazy sometimes
6 read a lot of books
7 see a lot of movies
8 have dog
9 learn Japanese
9 year: you say that so often it’s lost all meaning
Me: [sinks into contemplation of metasemantics and articulate shutdowns]
Me: [sinks into contemplation of metasemantics and articulate shutdowns]
December 22, 2024 at 4:18 PM
9 year: you say that so often it’s lost all meaning
Me: [sinks into contemplation of metasemantics and articulate shutdowns]
Me: [sinks into contemplation of metasemantics and articulate shutdowns]
also think that when you see Lewis’s approach to semantics & metasemantics as another application of his Humeanism & Best-Systems approach a lot of things snap into place
August 13, 2026 at 4:10 PM
also think that when you see Lewis’s approach to semantics & metasemantics as another application of his Humeanism & Best-Systems approach a lot of things snap into place
Final session of Metasemantics and AI Conference at Institute of Philosophy at University of London with Anandi Hattiangadi and Anders Schoubye on why the outputs of LLMs are meaningless
June 27, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Final session of Metasemantics and AI Conference at Institute of Philosophy at University of London with Anandi Hattiangadi and Anders Schoubye on why the outputs of LLMs are meaningless
🎯Julian Ratcliffe (University of Oxford): The Metasemantics Political Philosophy Needs.
#WorkshopOnCrossroadsinthePoliticalPhilosophyofLanguage
#WorkshopOnCrossroadsinthePoliticalPhilosophyofLanguage
November 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
🎯Julian Ratcliffe (University of Oxford): The Metasemantics Political Philosophy Needs.
#WorkshopOnCrossroadsinthePoliticalPhilosophyofLanguage
#WorkshopOnCrossroadsinthePoliticalPhilosophyofLanguage
Mechanized Metasemantics of Modal Necessity
YD Kim
We factorize Kripke-style valuation as V = I o delta, where delta maps object-language formulas to syntactic distinctions and I maps such distinctions to possible-worlds truth-conditions. So modal evaluation is done over interpreted distinctions.
YD Kim
We factorize Kripke-style valuation as V = I o delta, where delta maps object-language formulas to syntactic distinctions and I maps such distinctions to possible-worlds truth-conditions. So modal evaluation is done over interpreted distinctions.
Mechanized Metasemantics of Modal Necessity: Valuation Factorization and Modal Non-Collapse
Mechanized Metasemantics of Modal Necessity: Valuation Factorization and Modal Non-Collapse in the Archive of Formal Proofs
isa-afp.org
June 6, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Mechanized Metasemantics of Modal Necessity
YD Kim
We factorize Kripke-style valuation as V = I o delta, where delta maps object-language formulas to syntactic distinctions and I maps such distinctions to possible-worlds truth-conditions. So modal evaluation is done over interpreted distinctions.
YD Kim
We factorize Kripke-style valuation as V = I o delta, where delta maps object-language formulas to syntactic distinctions and I maps such distinctions to possible-worlds truth-conditions. So modal evaluation is done over interpreted distinctions.
A very insightful account of some of the issues with existing frameworks for applying notions of semantics to animal communication by Gasparri. Critical but even-handed, lots of food for thought here:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Animal metasemantics - Biology & Philosophy
Multiple scholars in animal communication research have proposed that models of animal signals should appropriate theoretical terminology and concepts from natural language semantics. However, the application of semantic descriptors to nonhuman communication is a delicate undertaking. The goal of this paper is to consider whether there are any basic methodological principles that can help us determine whether the appropriation of a semantic descriptor by an animal model is justified or unwarranted. I begin by drawing a parallel between types of theories of meaning and types of theories of signal content, and propose to categorize the metatheoretical issues surrounding the application of semantic descriptors to animal signals under the banner of an animal metasemantics. I then develop three simple conditions on the operation: a condition of epistemic fertility, one of intensional depth, and one of grammatical congruity. Finally, I showcase how these heuristics can assist theory production and help identify strengths and opportunities for improvement in emerging projects in animal linguistics.
link.springer.com
October 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
A very insightful account of some of the issues with existing frameworks for applying notions of semantics to animal communication by Gasparri. Critical but even-handed, lots of food for thought here:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
seems like it's still up
rsbakker.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/v...
rsbakker.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/v...
Visions of the Semantic Apocalypse: James Andow and Dispositional Metasemantics
The big problem faced by dispositionalist accounts of meaning lies in their inability to explain the apparent normativity of meaning. Claims that the meaning of X turns on the disposition to utter …
rsbakker.wordpress.com
June 11, 2025 at 12:11 AM
seems like it's still up
rsbakker.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/v...
rsbakker.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/v...
There's a two year postdoc on the metasemantics of LLMs at Umeå. The PI is very cool and convinced I'm wrong about this so you could help him to expose me as a fool: www.umu.se/en/work-with...
Postdoctoral Scholarship (2 years) in Philosophy of AI
www.umu.se
June 27, 2024 at 3:36 PM
There's a two year postdoc on the metasemantics of LLMs at Umeå. The PI is very cool and convinced I'm wrong about this so you could help him to expose me as a fool: www.umu.se/en/work-with...
@asgeirberg.bsky.social has a new paper out on metasemantics called "Problems for ‘standard’ dispositionalist accounts of semantic content": link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Problems for ‘standard’ dispositionalist accounts of semantic content - Synthese
A popular view in metasemantics is the view that a speaker’s dispositions regarding the use of a symbol determine the meaning of that symbol for the speaker. Kripke (Wittgenstein on rules and private ...
link.springer.com
January 17, 2025 at 10:09 AM
@asgeirberg.bsky.social has a new paper out on metasemantics called "Problems for ‘standard’ dispositionalist accounts of semantic content": link.springer.com/article/10.1...
So maybe what unifies the realm of metasemantics for me is that it's the stuff that must make sense within the context of a broader metametasemantics....
December 23, 2024 at 2:32 PM
So maybe what unifies the realm of metasemantics for me is that it's the stuff that must make sense within the context of a broader metametasemantics....