[CFP] Philosophy of Language: New Frontiers in Meaning and Use - Portuguese Journal Philosophy
Ricardo Barroso
Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 2025, Volume 81, No. 4
Philosophy of Language:
New Frontiers in Meaning and Use
Ricardo Barroso Batista
Artur Galvão
Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Submission deadline: 30th November 2025
Several authors attribute the beginnings of the philosophy of language to Plato. In the Cratylus, Plato introduced the problem of the “correctness of names,” discussing whether words should imitate the essences of the objects they represent or if they are merely cultural conventions. This dialogue inaugurated a perennial question: is there a natural connection between words and the things they represent?
This debate deepened over the centuries and gained new momentum with the emergence of analytic philosophy. This philosophical tradition result from a movement known as the “linguistic turn,” in which language was regarded as the privileged medium for resolving philosophical problems. This turning point was largely due to the work of Gottlob Frege, who, through his studies in mathematical logic, introduced novel ideas into the philosophy of language. Among these was the “context principle,” which asserts that words only have meaning within the context of a complete sentence. In other words, words by themselves (isolated) do not encompass their entire meaning; it is only within sentences that meanings are fully assigned to terms. This principle would profoundly influence the nascent analytic philosophy.
During this period, it was believed that philosophy of language, through its new “analytic” method, could help solve traditional philosophical problems. Philosophers such as Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Alfred Ayer employed this method to tackle complex metaphysical and epistemological issues. It was at this time that philosophy of language became closely connected with logic and the study of formal structures, initially focusing on the semantics of formal languages – constructed to represent logical or mathematical relationships – and on the analysis of syntax and construction rules. The aim was to understand how propositions are structured internally and how the relationships among terms within a formal expression reflect, or even clarify, the logical functioning of thought and philosophical propositions.
Later, philosophers began to focus on applying perspectives from formal logic to natural languages. This shift was significant because natural languages, with all their idiosyncrasies and nuances, raised new questions about how meaning functions in everyday human communication.
As the philosophy of language evolved throughout the twentieth century, its themes and methods, initially centered around logic and formal structures, gradually expanded to increasingly incorporate challenges posed by the ambiguity of natural languages. Over time, new approaches and concerns shaped this field, paving the way for a deeper understanding of how language operates within human interactions and communication. Today, as highlighted by Scott Soames (2022), the philosophy of language continues to advance, reflecting three main research trends in recent literature. The first seeks to understand propositions and their relation to sentence meaning. The second aims to develop a semantic theory that explains the contextual use of sentences. The third strives to formulate a pragmatic theory that systematically attributes “illocutionary contents.”
Regarding the first trend, it is widely acknowledged that propositions are central to how we think about language. They are broadly recognized as fundamental components of meaning, typically understood as abstract entities that express states of affairs in the world. For example, the proposition "the sky is blue" represents a state of affairs that can be true or false. Current research aims to refine our understanding of propositions themselves and their relationship to the sentences we use. This involves analyzing how propositions represent the world and what cognitive capacities are required to interpret them. In other words, the investigation focuses on the conditions necessary for humans to grasp or understand propositions, considering the cognitive and conceptual demands these impose. One central issue here is how to reconcile the abstract nature of propositions with the concrete reality of communication. On the one hand, propositions are usually seen as timeless and objective, while on the other hand, natural language is ambiguous, subjective, context-dependent, and influenced by speakers’ intentions. Ultimately, this first trend seeks to resolve the tension between these fundamentally different aspects of language within a coherent theory of meaning.
Concerning the second trend, philosophers of language have endeavored to improve semantic theories to better understand how speakers use sentences with the “correct” meaning in various contexts and situations. The goal is to explain how sentence meanings adapt to different contexts while preserving the speaker's intent. This problem is broader than merely understanding the meaning of individual words or sentences; it requires explaining how sentences are specifically employed (or avoided) in particular contexts to convey meaning. In formal semantic theories, meaning is often treated in terms of truth conditions (a sentence is true if it accurately describes the world). However, actual language use is far more complex than simply meeting unequivocal truth conditions. Speakers do not merely utter true or false statements; they also perform “illocutionary acts” such as making promises, issuing orders, asking questions, or describing mental states. As emphasized by Leopold Hess (2022), a “good” semantic theory must integrate the relationship between understanding the “literal” meaning of a sentence and the illocutionary content of its usage (the action performed by uttering it). For instance, the sentence "Can you pass the salt?" is grammatically a question, but its actual use contextually serves as a polite request for someone to bring an object (the salt shaker). In short, the current tendency is to comprehend pragmatic, concrete elements of language use to develop more comprehensive semantic theories.
Regarding the third and final trend, philosophers of language have increasingly focused on developing a new type of pragmatic theory capable of systematically explaining how speakers and listeners converge upon meaning during communication. Alexander Williams (2023), for instance, suggests that the primary challenge is explaining how communicative participants utilize contextual information to determine the illocutionary content of an utterance—what the speaker intends to achieve through their words. In everyday conversations, speakers rely on shared (intersubjective) knowledge, social norms, and contextual cues to infer conversational meaning. For example, the utterance “It's cold in here!” could be interpreted as a mere exclamation or complaint, or alternatively, as an indirect request to close a window. A successful pragmatic theory should thus explain these subtleties of discourse, clarifying how people use language to convey far more "information" than explicitly stated. Williams stresses that pragmatics must consider the rationality inherent in speaker-listener interactions, ideally developing a theory that explains how rational agents (speakers and listeners) use both semantic information (literal word meaning) and pragmatic information (context, tone, etc.) to communicate effectively. This represents a fundamental challenge, as pragmatic meaning frequently involves context-dependent inferences and varying interpretative codes.
Acknowledging that these three current trends – understanding propositions, enhancing semantics, and developing pragmatics – are crucial for advancing our understanding of the philosophy of language and philosophical thought more generally, this special thematic issue of the Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia seeks to foster the future of the philosophy of language by deeply integrating formal theories of meaning with practical insights into how people use language.
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