Brains, Persons, and Society *** ABSTRACTS    Cervelli, Persone e Società ***ABSTRACTS

Language and Epistemic Interdependence

If we ask only the philosophers' usual questions about knowledge of linguistic meaning, then we leave out important questions in the epistemology of language. (The usual questions have concerned the kind and the content of the knowledge of individual speakers.)  The question I raise is:  In what does it consist that knowledge of linguistic meaning is shared?  I shall argue that an answer requires us to see knowledge of language as rested in relations of epistemic interdependency (which I explain) -- relations among those who share a language. That enables us to see the sense in which using language is participating in a social practice.