Can Teleosemantics Solve the Qua Problem of Reference?
The qua problem is about the basis of the belief that when we use a natural kind term to refer to a natural kind,it indeed refers to this natural kind but not to other natural kinds.This problem is the criticism of pure causal theory of reference,indicating that causal theory should incorporate elements of descriptivism.Neander and others argue that teleosemantics,with the stance of hybridism,can address the qua problem of natural kind terms in refer-ence by depicting the mechanism of semantic information transmission.However,teleosemantic solutions still en-counter some difficulties,such as the overly strict normativity in the naturalized reference mechanism,the potential arbitrariness in the process of reference selection,and the possibility that the mechanism of information transmission may not be unidirectional.
teleosemanticsnatural kindsreferencenormativityphilosophy of language
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