GRADABLE ADJECTIVES AND DISAGREEMENT ABOUT PERSONAL TASTE Cover Image

GRADABLE ADJECTIVES AND DISAGREEMENT ABOUT PERSONAL TASTE
GRADABLE ADJECTIVES AND DISAGREEMENT ABOUT PERSONAL TASTE

Author(s): Miloš Vuletić
Subject(s): Epistemology, Contemporary Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Published by: Filozofsko društvo Srbije
Keywords: contextualism; relativism; personal taste; disagreement; gradable adjectives; Michael Glanzberg;

Summary/Abstract: Contextualism and Relativism offer competing semantic accounts of personal taste predicates. I argue in this paper that Michael Glanzberg’s defense of contextualism from one relativist argument—the Lost Disagreement Argument—is not successful. I show that Glanzberg’s scalar analysis of the adjectives from which personal taste predicates are built fails to capture the characteristic subjectivity of these predicates. I propose an alternative analysis according to whicheach personal taste adjective denotes multiple functions from a set of objects to an ordered scale of measurement of the appropriate dimensional property. This analysis succeeds where Glanzberg’s fails and it favors a relativist treatment of personal taste predicates.

  • Issue Year: 59/2016
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 19-33
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: English
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