Problems of Compositionality

This book is a critical discussion of the principle of compositionality, the thesis that the meaning of a complex expression is fully determined by the meanings of its constituents and its structure. The aim of this book is to clarify what is meant by this principle, to show that its traditional justification is insufficient, and to discuss some of the problems that have to be addressed before a new attempt can be made to justify it.

Preface; 1. The Principle; 1.1. Statement of the Principle; 1.2 Alternative Formulations; 1.3 Parallelism; 1.4 Substitutivity; 1.5 Functionality; 1.6 Summary; 2. Linguistic Semantics; 2.1 Is Semantics Empirical; 2.2 The First Dogma; 2.3 The Second Dogma; 2.4 Semantics without Epistemology; 2.5 Semantics without Ontology; 2.6 The Third Dogma; 2.7 Summary; 3. The Argument; 3.1 The Argument from Understanding; 3.2 Meaning and Understanding; 3.3 The Strong Principle of Understanding; 3.4 The Modest Principle of Understanding; 3.5 Understanding and the Missing Shade of Blue; 3.6 Summary; 4. Adjectives in Context; 4.1 The Context Thesis; 4.2 The Color of a Painted Leaf; 4.3 Problems of 'Good'; 4.4 Ways of Being Good; 4.5 Varieties of Incompleteness; 4.6 Ways of Being Green?; 4.7 Summary; 5. Descriptions in Context; 5.1 A Parallel; 5.2 Referring and Quantifying Phrases; 5.3 Two Objections to the Quantificational View; 5.4 Replies to Donnellan's Objection; 5.5 Replies to Heim's Objection; 5.6 Methodological Considerations; 5.7 Coreferring Phrases and File-Cards; 5.8 Summary; 6. In Place of a Conclusion; Bibliography; Index