From the ALWS archives: A selection of papers from the International Wittgenstein Symposia in Kirchberg am Wechsel, (2009) Papers of the 32nd IWS (eds. V. A. Munz, K. Puhl, J. Wang)

Correlation, Correspondence and the Bounds of Linguistic Behavior

Eli Dresner

Abstract



In the first section of this paper I present a question that needs to be
addressed by proponents of interaction oriented conceptions of language, but
which is seldom acknowledged (let alone answered). The question is this: How
should the boundary between linguistic and non-linguistic behavior be
delineated? In the second part of the paper I appeal to Davidson's notion of
triangulation (as applied in his account of the underpinnings of language) in
order to answer this question. In particular, I argue that the notion of
correspondence between language and world (even without facts to which true
sentences correspond) can play a part in the solution of this problem.