Generics: some (non) specifics
Published version
Peer-reviewed
Repository URI
Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Bosse, Anne https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9123-8193
Abstract
jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThis paper is about an underappreciated aspect of generics: their non-specificity. Many uses of generics, utterances like ‘Seagulls swoop down to steal food’, express non-specific generalisations which do not specify their quantificational force or flavour. I consider whether this non-specificity arises as a by-product of context-sensitivity or semantic incompleteness but argue instead that generics semantically express non-specific generalisations by default as a result of quantifying existentially over more specific ones.</jats:p>
Description
Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000267
Keywords
5003 Philosophy, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies
Journal Title
Synthese
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
0039-7857
1573-0964
1573-0964
Volume Title
199
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC