Language, Logic and Epistemology A Modal-Realist Approach Christopher Norris Language, Logic and Epistemology Recent publications by Christopher Norris DECONSTRUCTION: THEORY AND PRACTICE 3rd Edn HILARY PUTNAM: REALISM, REASON, AND THE USES OF UNCERTAINTY TRUTH MATTERS: REALISM, ANTI-REALISM AND RESPONSE-DEPENDENCE DECONSTRUCTION AND THE UNFINISHED PROJECT OF MODERNITY MINDING THE GAP: EPISTEMOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE IN THE TWO TRADITIONS QUANTUM THEORY AND THE FLIGHT FROM REALISM; PHILOSOPHICAL RESPONSES TO QUANTUM MECHANICS AGAINST RELATIVISM: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, DECONSTRUCTION AND CRITICAL THEORY NEW IDOLS OF THE CAVE: ON THE LIMITS OF ANTI-REALISM RESOURCES OF REALISM: PROSPECTS FOR ‘POST-ANALYTIC’ PHILOSOPHY Edited with David Roden JACQUES DERRIDA Edited with Christa Knellwolf THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM, Vol 9: TWENTIETH CENTURY HISTORICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Language, Logic and Epistemology: A Modal-Realist Approach Christopher Norris Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy, Cardiff University, UK © Christopher Norris 2004 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-51546-2 ISBN 978-0-230-51236-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230512362 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Norris, Christopher, 1947– Language, logic and epistemology:a modal-realist approach/Christopher Norris. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–4039–2165–2 1. Philosophy, Modern—20th century. 2. Deconstruction. 3. Poststructuralism. 4. Language—Philosophy. 5. Knowledge, Theory of. 6. Logic. I. Title. B804.N67 2004 190′.9′04—dc22 2003060853 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne For Alison, Clare and Jenny This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 1 Derrida on Rousseau: Deconstruction as Philosophy of Logic 16 2 The Limits of Whose Language?: Wittgenstein on Logic, Mathematics, and Science 66 3 Modularity, Nativism, and Reference-Fixing: On Chomsky’s Internalist Assumptions 111 4 The Perceiver’s Share (1): Realism, Scepticism, and Response-Dependence 150 5 The Perceiver’s Share (2): Deconstructive Musicology and Cognitive Science 185 6 Change, Conservation, and Crisis-Management in the Discourse of Analytic Philosophy 227 Index 267 vii Acknowledgements As usual my work on this book has been helped, stimulated, jogged along, and generally made more enjoyable by regular discussion with my colleagues in the Philosophy Section at Cardiff. It is a tribute to their spirit of shared intellectual commitment – as well as their resilience and good humour – that such discussion continues to flourish despite what appears a concerted effort to prevent it on the part of government policy-makers and tame bureaucrats. I should like to thank Barry Wilkins in particular for his friendship and encouragement over the years; also Robin Attfield for much good advice and constructive commentary on work in progress. Alex Miller left Cardiff for a post in Australia when the book was just beginning to shape up but I expect he will recognise how much of it (especially the sections on rule-following and response-dependence) grew out of our various exchanges and productive disagreements. My post-graduate students – among them (most recently) Jason Barker, Gideon Calder, Paul Gorton, Theo Grammenos, Carol Jones, Laurence Peddle, and Rea Walldén – have helped a great deal in enabling me to see where some point needed clarification or some line of argument strengthening. The chapter on deconstructive musicology was in large part inspired (or provoked) by discussions with Ken Gloag, my colleague in the Music Department at Cardiff and convenor of our jointly taught MA course in Music and Cultural Politics. He will probably not find much to agree with here but the chapter owes a lot to his shrewd comments in and out of the seminar room. David Roden cast an expert eye over sections of Chapter 2 where I venture a formalised (modal-logical) rendition of Derrida’s arguments concerning the thematics of ‘supplementarity’ in Rousseau and of ‘iterability’ in the discourse of Austinian speech-act theory. You can teach an old dog one or two new tricks but it helps no end to have a young dog around to gnaw at these technical bones. Recasting the passages from Derrida in symbolic notation was a tough exercise but (I trust) well worth the effort if it helps to convince at least a few anti-Derridean ‘analytic’ diehards that they have missed something important. Anyway I am grateful to David for this, as likewise for the huge amount of reading and the powers of acute critical scholarship which he brought to our recently coedited four-volume anthology of writings on Derrida. Special mention also to Janos Barcsak, David Edwards, Dan Latimer, Peter Murray, Daniele Procida, Alison Scott-Baumann, David Skilton, Christine Southwell, Manuel Barbeito Varela, Alison Venables, and Robin Wood for reasons too many and varied to recount. My copy-editor Selvin Vedamanickam and the production contact Jophcy Joseph, at Integra Software Services in Pondicherry, were helpful, friendly and patient far viii Acknowledgements ix beyond the call of duty and also provided my first experience of how these things are done in an age of global electronic communications. My debts nearer home – to Alison, Clare, and Jenny – should go without saying by now but I shall say them once again with undiminished gratitude and affection. Meanwhile it would be wrong to let this occasion pass without expressing my unreserved support for those millions of people worldwide who have come out in opposition to the unjust and illegal war against Iraq that is currently being waged ‘in our name’ by the US and British governments. If there is any hope to be had in these bad times then it rests with the collective courage and resistance – along with the sense of implacable moral outrage – that have brought the protestors together across otherwise large political differences of view. I should especially like to thank my comrades in Cor Cochion Caerdydd for their untiring dedication to the anti-war cause; also those others in and around Cardiff who have devoted vast amounts of time and energy to organising local meetings and events. Ten years ago I published a book about the first (1991) Gulf War which, among other things, took postmod- ernists to task for adopting an extreme anti-realist, relativist, or linguistic- constructivist position and thereby effectively depriving themselves of any factual or moral ground upon which to mount such resistance. This present volume is for the most part pitched at a philosophic level far removed from the context of current world-political events. All the same there are some conti- nuities worth remarking, in particular as concerns my discussion (Chapter 3) of Noam Chomsky’s work in theoretical linguistics and cognitive psychology. I trust that my taking issue with Chomsky on certain relatively technical points will not obscure my immense admiration for his brave and uniquely authoritative stand against this and other recent shameful episodes in the history of man’s inhumanity to man. Cardiff, Wales April 2003 Note Several chapters or versions thereof have appeared previously in journals or edited volumes. I am grateful for permission to reprint this material in revised form to Sage Publishers and to the editors and publishers of Metaphilosophy, Philosophy at Yeditepe, and Pretexts.