An approach to occasion-sensitivity

Zusammenfassung

In this dissertation, I explore and defend the hypothesis that language is occasion-sensitive. I understand occasion-sensitivity as a combination of two claims. The first claim has it that, for a large class of non-indexical sentences, linguistic meaning underdetermines truth-conditions. According to the second, sentence-tokens only determine a partial function from states of affairs to truth-values. Travis cases provide evidence for both claims. After discussing and dismissing minimalist and indexicalist explanations of Travis cases, I outline a situationalist approach in which the truth-value of a sentence- token partly depends on the constraints imposed by the activity that the token concerns. Finally, I discuss the compatibility of occasion-sensitivity with systematic theories of truth-conditions.