Article
Troubles with Rey's Linguistic Eliminativism
Mind and Language
(2021)
Abstract
We focus on Folieism, Rey’s brand of Eliminativism about languages, according to which words, sentences, phonemes, and such, and consequently languages, do not exist; they are intentional inexistents, on par with unicorns, that speakers, under an ineluctable illusion, mistake as real. We present a simplified reconstruction of his argument, challenge what we take to be its presuppositions, and argue that its conclusion has unwanted social/ethical consequences and construes linguistics writ large in a strange light, as a kind of pretense, leading us to reject Folieism.
Keywords
- Eliminativism,
- Folieism,
- Georges Rey
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 15, 2021
Publisher Statement
Uncorrected proofs
Citation Information
Robert J. Stainton and Christopher Viger. "Troubles with Rey's Linguistic Eliminativism" Mind and Language (2021) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robertstainton/156/