Language and Thought

Most philosophical theories of language have assumed that statements (products of assertion) and propositions (objects of belief) are the same things. John L. Pollock denies this, maintaining that even when the speaker is perfectly sincere, what he is thinking need not be the same thing as what he is saying. Originally published in 1982. The **Princeton Legacy Library** uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Most philosophical theories of language have assumed that statements (products of assertion) and propositions (objects of belief) are the same things. John L. Pollock denies this, maintaining that even when the speaker is perfectly sincere, what he is thinking need not be the same thing as what he is saying. Originally published in 1982. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905 Contents Preface I. The Statemental Theory of Meaning II. Traditional Theories of Proper Names III. The Meaning of a Proper Name IV. Singular Terms V. The Traditional Theory of Predicates VI. Synthetic Predicates VII. Nonsynthetic Predicates VIII. The Alethic Modalities IX. Doxastic and Epistemic Sentences X. Languages, Institutions, and Conventions XI. Stating XII. Nondeclarative Sentences Appendix: A General Statemental Semantics Bibliography Index