Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Barber, Alex
(1997).
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40104547
Abstract
(This paper responds to some criticisms made by Robert J. Stainton of an earlier-written but later-published paper, 'The Pleonasticisty of Talk about Concepts'. Philosophical Studies, 89: 53-86, 1998.)
The pleonastic theory of concepts is still viable, notwithstanding criticisms recently brought against it by Robert J. Stainton (Crítica, December 1996). In particular, mastering a concept can be seen as understanding a term that expresses that concept, and seeing it in this way does not threaten the deflationary character of the pleonastic theory given a proper construal of understanding. Moreover, appeals to deeper-than-surface structural constituency of the kind familiar in contemporary linguistics do not necessarily engender a robust interpretation of concept-discourse.