Papers Published
- Pavese, C, A theory of practical meaning,
Philosophical Topics, vol. 45 no. 2
(September, 2017),
pp. 65-96, Philosophy Documentation Center [doi].
(last updated on 2019/07/07)
Abstract: This essay introduces the notion of practical meaning by looking at a certain kind of procedural system-the motor system-that plays a central role in computational models of motor behavior. I suggest that a semantics for motor commands has to appeal to a distinctively practical kind of meaning. Defending the explanatory relevance of motor representation and of its semantic properties in a computational explanation of motor behavior, my argument concludes that practical meanings play a central role in an adequate explanation of motor behavior that is based on these computational models. In the second part of this essay, I generalize and clarify the notion of practical meaning, and I defend the intelligibility of practical meanings against an important objection.
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