Zoltán Vecsey:
Empirical Evidence for the Token-Reflexive Account of Indexicals
Abstract:
Indexicals are context dependent expressions whose designata may vary from utterance to utterance. Today, there are two competing approaches to the issues of context dependence. The formal framework concentrates primarily on abstract types of indexicals. According to this approach contexts can be represented by ordered n-tuples. The token-reflexive view places emphasis instead on expression tokens. This view construes contexts as worldly situations with concrete utterances. In this paper I argue that the token-reflexive view has better resources for dealing with the fundamental issues of context dependence than the formal framework. The main argument concerns the inputs and outputs of interpretive systems. I conclude that expression tokens as shiftable inputs may provide empirical evidence for the token-reflexive view.
