Matti Eklund: 'Alien Languages and Alien Metaphysics'
What sorts of languages can there be? More specifically, what sorts of semantic differences can there be between languages? Can there be alien languages – languages whose expressions have semantic functions radically different from the semantic functions of expressions of familiar languages? The questions about language suggest corresponding questions in metaphysics. Might some such unfamiliar language better represent reality than familiar languages do? Might reality have alien structure, better captured by an alien kind of language? – These questions in philosophy of language and metaphysics are at the center of my recent work, including my forthcoming book Alien Structure: Language and Reality. In this talk I will explain these issues further, make a case for their significance, and say a bit about how to adjudicate these issues.
If you would like to join us for dinner and drinks afterwards at the Royal Oak Pub at 6pm sign up via this link by Thursday 7 March at noon.
