{"id":13419,"date":"2007-09-01T00:40:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-01T07:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-wordsmiths-philosopher\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T16:34:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T23:34:38","slug":"the-wordsmiths-philosopher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-wordsmiths-philosopher\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wordsmith\u2019s Philosopher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2007\/09\/Scott-Soames-philosophy-top-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2007\/09\/Scott-Soames-philosophy-top-1920x1080.jpg 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2007\/09\/Scott-Soames-philosophy-top-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2007\/09\/Scott-Soames-philosophy-top-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  role=\"none\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  (Photo: Peter Zhaoyu Zhou.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=arts-and-culture\">Arts and Culture<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>The Wordsmith\u2019s Philosopher<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC College\u2019s Scott Soames explores the meanings and logic of language.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Pamela J. Johnson<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">September 1, 2007<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>At Princeton University, philosophers <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/faculty\/faculty_display.html?Person_ID=1003717\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scott Soames<\/a> and Saul Kripke often walked home together.<\/p>\n<p>On the way, they would sometimes stop by the Annex, a fixture on Nassau Street, and duck into its basement bar for dinner and a drink. Rather than talk sports or politics, these men were more likely to ponder the meaning of meaning and whether a paradoxical sentence can be true.<\/p>\n<p>Now the director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/phil\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">School of Philosophy<\/a> at USC College, Soames was highly influenced by Kripke \u2014 regarded by many as the leading philosopher of his time.<\/p>\n<p>Soames, who specializes in the philosophy of language and the history of analytical philosophy, is perhaps best known for defending and expanding on the \u201canti-descriptivist revolution\u201d in philosophy led by Kripke and others.<\/p>\n<p>Developed in the early 1970s, the revolution changed the way philosophers think of general terms \u2014 such as water, gold, tiger, blue \u2014 that stand for abstract categories of kinds of things that occur in nature: substances (water, gold), species (tiger) and color (blue).<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, Soames left Princeton after nearly a quarter century. Soames\u2019 departure, which came after the deaths of philosophers and colleagues David Lewis, Richard Jeffrey and Margaret Wilson, and Kripke\u2019s retirement, was a setback for its philosophy department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a serious blow,\u201d Gilbert Harman, Princeton\u2019s philosophy graduate studies director, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyprincetonian.com\/archives\/2004\/03\/08\/news\/9870.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the <em>Daily Princetonian<\/em><\/a> after Soames announced his departure.<\/p>\n<p>When Soames arrived at USC, the philosophy program ranked 46th in the nation, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philosophicalgourmet.com\/overall.asp\"><em>Philosophical Gourmet Report<\/em><\/a>. Two years later, it ranks 16th, mostly as a result of recent outstanding hires, including Soames; <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/faculty\/faculty_display.html?Person_ID=1003414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeffrey King<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/faculty\/faculty_display.html?Person_ID=1008303\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">George Wilson<\/a> from the University of California, Davis; and<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/faculty\/faculty_display.html?Person_ID=1003785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> James Van Cleve<\/a> from Brown University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not at all happy with being 16th,\u201d Soames said inside his office, where a photo of Soames, Kripke and other Princeton philosophers adorned a wall. \u201cI\u2019d like to see us in the top five.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former director of philosophy at the College, <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/faculty\/faculty_display.html?Person_ID=1003353\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Higginbotham<\/a>, was the catalyst in rebuilding the school. Hired in 2000 from Oxford University, Higginbotham, the Linda MacDonald Hilf Chair in Philosophy, oversaw the faculty\u2019s expansion from 12 to 18.<\/p>\n<p>Higginbotham, also a renowned philosopher of language, was extremely familiar with Soames\u2019 work. When he heard Soames was contemplating leaving Princeton, he began the seduction of the well-known East Coast philosopher.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think I want to go,\u201d Soames recalled telling his then-fianc\u00e9e Martha Dencker. \u201cBut I had told [Higginbotham] I would visit, so I had to get on the airplane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was 7 degrees and miserable in Newark when Soames\u2019 plane took off. In Los Angeles, it was 65 and sunny. Higginbotham drove Soames to the Shangri-la Hotel in Santa Monica. Soames took a jog along the beach. He called Dencker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, there\u2019s a lot to be said for Southern California,\u201d he told Dencker, whom he married in 2004, two days before they moved to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat [weather] was the start of it,\u201d Soames said. \u201cBut I was also impressed with USC\u2019s commitment to building first-rate departments and ultimately a first-rate university that can compete with anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Soames had spent most of his life teaching at MIT, Yale and Princeton. \u201cWhen you have a sense you are already on top, it\u2019s all too easy to become complacent,\u201d Soames said. \u201cSo, to meet these people at USC, who were eager to improve and to move forward, well, it just appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The move also sparked Soames\u2019 competitive streak, which has its roots in sports.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up in Seattle, Soames played football, played baseball and swam, but his real love was basketball. \u201cI was short, so I played point guard,\u201d said Soames, a fit 60-year-old with sandy hair.<\/p>\n<p>Academics didn\u2019t really register. \u201cI was more interested in athletics,\u201d admitted Soames, who remains an avid cyclist. The only time he read was \u201cwhen I was ill with scarlet fever in the second and third grades and spent a year in bed,\u201d he said. \u201cI read almost all sports stories: <em>Phantom Backfield<\/em>, <em>The Kid Who Batted a Thousand<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although his parents never attended college, they encouraged their two sons to do so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew I would go to college but never thought about it very much,\u201d Soames said. \u201cSo along came my senior year and a representative from Stanford came to our high school. He spoke and I was impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At Stanford, he entered a new, intellectual world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found myself intrigued with philosophy because I was interested in what you might think of as the \u2018big philosophical questions,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He earned his bachelor\u2019s in philosophy and spent the next four years teaching English in Hong Kong, then giving reading lessons to first-, second- and third-grade immigrant children in Mountain View, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy work with Mexican-American children brought me into contact with literature on language development,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were various theories about why these children were having a hard time reading. So, I started to read about what people knew about language and how children learn it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He read Noam Chomsky, the legendary founder of modern linguistics, and was attracted to his naturalist approach to the study of language. Soames pursued his Ph.D. at MIT, where, working with Chomsky, he became one of the first scholars to combine theoretical linguistics with the philosophy of language. Higginbotham, who worked closely with Chomsky as a professor of philosophy at MIT from 1980 to 1993, is also among the field\u2019s pioneer scholars.<\/p>\n<p>Soames has written scores of articles and five scholarly books, including the two-volume <a href=\"http:\/\/press.princeton.edu\/titles\/7629.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century<\/em><\/a> (Princeton University Press, 2003) and most recently <a href=\"http:\/\/press.princeton.edu\/titles\/7899.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Reference and Description<\/em><\/a> (Princeton, 2005). He is also general editor of the Princeton series <em>Foundations of Contemporary Philosophy<\/em>, a collection of 21 books in which today\u2019s leading philosophers, including Soames, discuss the state of contemporary work in their specialized areas.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining his specialty, Soames described the philosophy of language as investigating the nature of truth, reference, meaning and representational content \u2014 and developing theoretical frameworks for applying these concepts to the study of natural language, communication and representational states of mind.<\/p>\n<p>During the first two-thirds of the 20th century, philosophers believed that the solution to all philosophical problems could be found in the study of language. The philosophy of language became the center of philosophy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, that period is over,\u201d Soames said. \u201cWe learned that language, though very important, is not the key to all of philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what is the key to all philosophy?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one knows,\u201d he said with a boyish grin.<\/p>\n<h2>A Linguistic Glossary, as Explained by Scott Soames<\/h2>\n<p>A <strong>natural language<\/strong> is the native language of a speech community. We contrast natural languages with artificial languages, e.g., invented languages of symbolic logic, mathematics or computer science. In the past half century, the logical and linguistic techniques originally developed to endow artificial languages with meaning have been modified and adapted to the task of describing the meanings of natural language sentences.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>reference<\/strong> of a term is that which the term is used to stand for or talk about, e.g., the two-word name \u201cScott Soames\u201d is used to talk about a certain person \u2014 me.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>representational state of mind<\/strong> is a state of mind \u2014 like seeing or believing something \u2014 that represents the world to the agent as being a certain way. When the world is indeed that way the perception is accurate, and the belief is true. When it isn\u2019t that way, the perception is inaccurate, and the belief is false.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>representational content<\/strong> of a sentence or of a mental state (e.g., a state associated with belief or perception) is whatever it is about that sentence or state that represents the world as being a certain way. For example, we use a sentence \u201cA is F\u201d to represent the thing referred to by \u201cA\u201d as having the property designated by \u201cF.\u201d When the world is the way the sentence represents it to be, we say that the sentence is true.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding the meaning of a sentence involves knowing what the world must be like in order for it to be true. Similar points can be made about <strong>perception and belief<\/strong>. When you see a certain color, your perceptual experience represents your immediate environment as containing a colored object located at a certain place. When the perception is accurate, there is such an object at that place. In this way, the notions of truth, reference and meaning are brought together in a theory of representational content. These are fundamental components of a theory of information needed to understand both language and mind.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>anti-descriptivist revolution<\/strong> was a development in the philosophy of language, led by Saul Kripke, David Kaplan and Hilary Putnam, in the early 1970s, which analyzed the meanings of many words \u2014 e.g., ordinary proper names and many common nouns for kinds of things occurring in nature (words like water, gold, tiger, blue) \u2014 as consisting simply of the things or kinds referred to, rather than of qualitative descriptions or definitions of those things. Instead of looking for definitions in people\u2019s heads, we look for the things in the world that these words are attached to and how that attachment came about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USC College\u2019s Scott Soames explores the meanings and logic of language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":24024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[107,193],"class_list":["post-13419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","tag-language","tag-philosophy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Wordsmith\u2019s Philosopher<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USC College\u2019s Scott 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