Phone: +46 (8) 16 28 13, peter.pagin@philosophy.su.se, ppagin@philosophy.su.se
Peter Pagin was born in Stockholm 1953 and was educated at Stockholm university. He received his basic degree, fil kand, in philosophy and mathematics in 1981. PhD studies 1982-87 with professor Dag Prawitz as supervisor. Docent degree at Stockholm university 1992. Postdoc research position (forskarassistent) 1987-1991. During the fall semester 1996 fellow at The Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in Social Science (SCASSS), Uppsala. Full professor from January 2002. Visiting professor at the University of Barcelona, Feb-July 2008. Fellow at Institut d’Études Avancées, IEA-Paris / Visiting researcher at Institut Jean-Nicod, spring 2010. Visiting professor at EHESS, Paris, June 2010.
Co-founder and first coordinator of the European PLM network of Philosophy of Language and Mind.
Co-founder and director of the CLLAM center for Logic, Language, and Mind, at the Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University.
Full CV.
Nordic Logic Summerschool 2017: Course on compositionality, with Dag Westerståhl. Presentation with links.
Main areas
In the first place, Pagin's area is philosophy of language, and within philosophy of language he has primarily taken an interest in the foundations of semantic theories and semantic concepts. During a couple of years he has worked on the principle of compositionality for natural language. He has tried to develop two thoughts: on the one hand that compositional semantic theories contribute to explain the success of linguistic communication, and on the other hand that precisely this explanatory role is the foundation of semantic concepts like truth and referens.
His interest in the philosophy of language has taken Pagin into areas bordering on other disciplines, like philosophy of mind (sensation terms), logic and formal semantics (compositionality), history of literature (point of view markers) and cognitive psychology and psychiatry (speakers with autism). He has also written about rules and rule-following, vagueness, synonymy, assertion and about modern philosophers like Wittgenstein, Quine, Davidson and Dummett.
Current activities
Research Project Compositionality, with Dag Westerståhl, funded by VR, the Swedish Research Council
Participant in Knowledge Resistance, funded by RJ, led by Åsa Wikforss.
Publications
Forthcoming
— 'Compositionality in Davidson's Early Work', forthcoming in Journal for the History of Analytic Philosophy. Open Access. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Belief sentence and compositionality. Notional part.', forthcoming in Journal of Semantics. Online at the journal. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'The Force of Assumptions and Self-Attributions'. Forthcoming in Justin Vlastos and Katja Vogt (eds.) Epistemology after Sexrus Empiricus. Oxford University Press. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Review of Peter Hanks:Propositional Content', forthcoming in Language. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'When does communication succeed? The case of general terms.', forthcoming in Teresa Marques and Åsa Wikforss (eds.), Shifting Concepts, Oxford University Press. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Enrichment, coherence, and quantifier properties', forthcoming in Journal of Pragmatics, special issue on prominence. Pre-publication pdf.
2019
— 'The indicativity view', in Sanford Goldberg (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Assertion, Oxford Handbooks Online.
— 'A general argument against structured propositions', Synthese 196:1501-28, open access.
2018
— 'Växelsemantik' (in Swedish), with Kathrin Glüer, in Swedish, Filosofisk Tidskrift 39:36-51. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'how donald trump’s bullshit earned him a place in the history of assertion.'. Interview by Richard Marshall in 3AM Magazine, 27 April 2018. Open Access.
2017
— 'Constructing the world and locating oneself', Review of Philosophy and Psychology 8:827-52. Publication pdf.
— 'Radical Interpretation and pragmatic enrichment', Argumenta 3:87-107, special issue on Donald Davidson. Publication pdf.
— 'Tolerance and higher-order vagueness', Synthese 194:3727-60. Pre-publication pdf.
2016
— 'Problems with norms of assertion', Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 93:178-207. Pre-publication pdf
— 'Sentential Semantics', in Maria Aloni and Paul Dekker (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Formal Semantics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 65-105. Pre-publication pdf
— 'De se communication: centered or uncentered', in Manuel García-Carpintero and Stephan Torre (eds.), De Se Thought and Communication, Oxford University Press, 272-306. Pre-publication pdf.
2015
— 'Bibliometric analysis of two subdomains in philosophy: free will and sorites', with Per Ahlgren, Oller Persson and Maria Svedberg, Scientometrics 103:47-73, 2015. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Intending to be misinterpreted', Organon F 22, Supplementary Issue: 5-18, 2015. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Fusing quantifiers and connectives: Is intuitionistic logic different?, in Heinrich Wansing (ed), Dag Prawitz on Proofs and Meaning, in the Studia Logica series Trends in Logic, subseries Outstanding Contributions, Springer, 259-80, 2015. Pre-publication pdf.
2014
— 'Assertion', Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, substantial update, 2014.
— 'Critical Pragmatics, by Kepa Korta and John Perry, Cambridge University Press 2011', review in The Philosophical Review 123:371-74, 2014. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Indeterminacy of Translation', in Ernie Lepore and Gilbert Harman (eds.): Companion to Quine, Wiley Blackwell, 236-62, 2014. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Empty Names in Switcher Semantics', with Kathrin Glüer, in Manuel García-Carpintero and Genoveva Martí (eds.), Empty Representation. Reference and Non-Existence, Oxford University Press, 117-41, 2014. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Intersubjective intentional identity', in Manuel García-Carpintero and Genoveva Martí (eds.), Empty Representation. Reference and Non-Existence, Oxford University Press, 91-113, 2014. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Pragmatic enrichment as coherence raising', Philosophical Studies 168: 59-100, 2014. Pre-publication pdf.
2013
— 'Philosophy of Language, by Scott Soames, Princeton University Press 2010', review in Mind 122: 589-93, 2013. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Radical Interpretation and the Principle of Charity', in Ernie Lepore and Kirk Ludwig (eds.): A Companion to Donald Davidson, Wiley Blackwell, 225-46, 2013. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'The cognitive significance of mental files', Disputatio V: 133-45, 2013. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Acceptable Contradictions: Pragmatics or Semantics? A Reply to Cobreros et al.', with Sam Alxatib and Uli Sauerland, Journal of Philosophical Logic 42: 619-34, 2013. Pre-Publication pdf.
— 'Compositionality, Complexity, and Evolution', in Francesco Lacerda (ed), PERILUS 2011, Proceedings from a Symposium on Language Acquisition and Language Evolution, , 51-62, 2013. Contents at www.ling.su.se/perilus/perilus-2011.
2012
— 'A note on the phenomenal sorites', Croatian Journal of Philosophy 12:519-24, 2012. Pre-publication.pdf.
— 'Reply to Forbes', with Kathrin Glüer, Analysis 72:298-303, 2012. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Truth Theories, Competence, and Semantic Computation', in G Preyer (ed), Donald Davidson on Truth, Meaning, and the Mental, OUP, 2012, 49-75. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Assertion, Inference, and Consequence', Synthèse 187:869-85, 2012. Pre-publication pdf
— 'General Terms and Relational Modality', with Kathrin Glüer, Nous 46:159-99, 2012. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Communication and the complexity of semantics', in Wolfram Hinzen, Edouard Machery and Markus Werning (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Compositionality, 510-29, 2012. Pre-publication pdf
2011
— Review of Mark Jary: Assertion, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
— 'Vagueness and Domain Restriction', in P. Egré and N. Klinedinst (eds.), Vagueness and Language Use, Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke, pp. 283-307. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Information and Assertoric Force', in J. Brown and H. Cappelen (eds.), Assertion, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp 97-136. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Compositionality', with Dag Westerståhl, in Klaus von Heusinger, Claudia Maienborn, and Paul Portner (eds.), Semantics. An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 96-123, 2011. Pre-publication pdf
2010
— 'Pure Quotation and General Compositionality', with Dag Westerståhl, Linguistics and Philosophy 33:381-415, 2010. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Compositionality II: 'Arguments and Problems', with Dag Westerståhl, Philosophy Compass 5:250-64, 2010. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Compositionality I: Definitions and Variants', with Dag Westerståhl, Philosophy Compass 5:265-82, 2010. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Vagueness and central gaps', in R Dietz and Sebastiano Moruzzi (eds.), Cuts and Clouds, 254-72, Oxford University Press, 2010. Pre-publication pdf
2009
— 'Assertion not possibly social', Journal of Pragmatics 41:2563-67, 2009. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Compositionality, understanding, and proofs', Mind 118:713-37, 2009. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Intuitionism and the anti-justification of bivalence', in S. Lindström, E. Palmgren, K. Segerberg, and V. Stoltenberg-Hansen (eds) Logicism, Intuitionism, and Formalism — What has Become of Them?, 221-36, Synthese Library, Springer, 2009. Pdf file
2008
— 'Indeterminacy and the analytic/synthetic distinctions: a survey', Synthèse 164:1-18, 2008. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Relational modality', with Kathrin Glüer, Journal of Logic, Language and Information 17, 307-22, 2008. Prep-publication pdf. An earlier version was published in H. Lagerlund, S. Lindström and R. Sliwinski (eds), Modality Matters. Twentyfive Essays in Honour of Krister Segerberg , 2006, 123-48.
— 'What is communicative success?', Canadian Journal of Philosophy 38:85-116, 2008. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Informativeness and Moore's Paradox', Analysis 68:46-57, 2008. Pre-publication pdf.
2007
— 'Content, context and composition', with Jeff Pelletier, in G. Peter and G. Preyer (eds), Content and Context. Essays on Semantics and Pragmatics, 25-62, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Assertion', survey article, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2007, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/assertion/. Local Pdf file.
— 'Analyticity, modality and general terms', with Kathrin Glüer, in T. Rønnow-Rasmussen, Homage à Wlodek. Philosophical Papers Dedicated to Wlodek Rabinowicz, Department of Philosophy, Lund University, 2007. CD publication and web publication: pdf file.
— 'Pragmatic composition', in Zouhar, Marian and Marvan, Tomasz (eds.), Svet jazyka a svet za jazykom, Supplement volume of Organon F, 11-26, 2007. Pre-publication pdf.
2006
— 'Proper names and relational modality', with Kathrin Glüer, Linguistics and Philosophy 29:507-35, 2006. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'The status of charity II. Charity, probability and simplicity', International Journal of Philosophical Studies 14:361-83, 2006. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Intersubjective externalism', in T. Marvan (ed) What Determines Content? The Internalism/Externalism Dispute, Cambridge Scholar Press, Newcastle upon Tyne, 39-54, 2006. Pdf-file.
— 'Meaning holism', in E Lepore och B Smith (eds), Handbook of Philosophy of Language, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006, 213-32. Pre-publication pdf.
— ' "Means that" and the liar', in H. Malmgren (ed), Kvantifikator för en Dag. Essays dedicated to Dag Westerståhl on his sixtieth birthday, Philosophical Communications Web Series, no 35, Department of Philosophy, Gothenburg University, 2006. http://www.phil.gu.se/posters/festskrift3/, 203-30. Link.
2005
— 'Compositionality and context', in G Preyer (ed), Contextualism in Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 303-48, 2005. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Review of Stephen Schiffer, The Things We Mean, Oxford University Press, 2003, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, July 2005: Link.
— 'Andras perspektiv', ('Others' points of view', in Swedish) in Swedish, in Att Anlägga Perspektiv, Staffan Hellberg and Göran Rossholm (eds), Symposion, Stockholm, 109-30, 2005. Pre-publication pdf
2004
— 'Is assertion social?', Journal of Pragmatics 36:833-59, 2004. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Point of view and belief attribution', in Göran Rossholm (ed). Essays on Fiction and Perspective, Peter Lang Verlag, Bern, 171-97, 2004. Pre-publication pdf.
2003
— 'Quine and the problem of synonymy', in H-J Glock, K Glüer, G Keil (eds), Two Dogmas of Empiricism. Fifty Years Later (= Grazer Philosophische Studien 66). Rodopi, Amsterdam, 171-97, 2003. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Communication and strong compositionality', Journal of Philosophical Logic 32, 287-322, 2003. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Schiffer on communication', Facta Philosophica 5, 25-48, 2003. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Meaning theory and autistic speakers', with Kathrin Glüer, Mind & Language 18, 23-51, 2003. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Mening hos yttranden', ('Meaning of utterances', in Swedish), Filosofisk Tidskrift 2, 3-18, 2003. Pre-publication pdf.
2002
— 'Rule-following, compositionality and the normativity of meaning', in D Prawitz (ed), Meaning and Interpretation, Konferenser 55, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitetsakademien, Stockholm 2002. Pre-publication pdf.
— Review of Mattias Paul: Success in Referential Communication, Kluwer 1999: Theoria LXVII-3:273-80, 2002. Pre-publication pdf.
2001
— 'Semantic triangulation', in P Kotatko, P Pagin och G Segal (eds), Interpreting Davidson, CSLI Publications, Stanford 2001. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'A Quinean definition of synonymy', Erkenntnis 55:7-32, 2001. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Frege on truth and judgment', Organon F VIII, 1-13, 2001. Pre-publication pdf.
2000
— 'Att förstå vad andra menar: frågeställningar kring kommunikation och språklig mening', ('To understand others: questions concerning communication and linguistic meaning') in Swedish, in K Dahlbäck (ed), Att förstå det Mänskliga: Humanistisk Forskning vid Stockholms Universitet, Natur och Kultur, 2000. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Sensation terms', Dialectica 54:177-99, 2000. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Publicness and indeterminacy', in Kotatko and Orenstein (eds), Knowledge, Language and Logic: Questions for Quine, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Kluwer, 2000. Pre-publication pdf.
A shorter Swedish version, 'Offentlighet och obestämdhet', is published in Filosofisk tidskrift 4:111-127, 1995.
1999
— Interview with Michael Dummett, together with Göran Sundholm, Lingua e Stile XXXIV:133-44, 1999. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Rules of meaning and practical reasoning', with Kathrin Glüer, Synthèse 117:207-27, 1999. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Radical interpretation and compositional structure', in U. Zeglen (ed), Discussions with Donald Davidson; Truth, Meaning and Knowledge, Routledge, 1999. Pre-publication pdf.
In Polish translation, in U. Zeglen (ed), Dyskusje Z Donaldem Davidsonem: O Prawddzie, Jezyku I Umsyle, Lublin 1996.
1998
— 'Bivalence: meaning theory vs metaphysics', Theoria 64:37-66, 1998. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Intuitionistic logic and anti-realism', Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1998. Pre-publication pdf.
1997
— 'Is compositionality compatible with holism?', Mind & Language. 12:11-33, 1997. Pre-publication pdf.
In italian translation, in M. Dell'Utri (ed), Olismo, Quodlibet, Macerata 2002.
1994
— 'Flexible variable-binding and Montague grammar', with Dag Westerståhl, in P Dekker och M Stokhof (eds), Proceedings of the ninth Amsterdam Colloquium, 519-525, Amsterdam 1994. Pre-publication pdf.
— 'Knowledge of Proofs', Topoi 13:93-100, 1994. Pre-publication pdf.
Reprinted in D Jaquette (ed), Philosophy of Mathematics: An Anthology, Blackwell, Oxford 2001.
— 'Rules', Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 1994. Pre-publication pdf.
Revised version in Concise Encyclopedia of philosophy of Language, 1997, and in Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics, 1998, in both cases Pergamon Press.
— 'Convention', Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 1994. Pre-publication pdf
Revised version in Concise Encyclopedia of philosophy of Language, 1997, Pergamon Press.
— 'Moderna meningsteorier', ('Modern theories of meaning'), in Swedish, Filosofisk Tidskrift 1:3-25, 1994. Pre-publication pdf.
1993
— 'Predicate logic with flexibly binding operators and natural language semantics', with Dag Westerståhl, Journal of Logic, Language and Information 2:89-128, 1993. Pre-publication pdf.
— Review of Sven Danielsson, Filosofiska Utredningar, Thales: in Swedish, Filosofisk Tidskrift 2:47-57, 1993.
1992
— 'Names in and out of thought', Philosophical Studies 66:27-51, 1992.
— Review of R Barrett och R Gibson (eds), Perspectives on Quine, Blackwell, Oxford 1990: History and Philosophy of Logic 13:240-2, 1992. Pre-publication pdf.
1990
— Review of Anita Avramides, Mind and Meaning, An Examination of a Gricean Account of Language, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1989: Theoria 56:232-5, 1990.
— Review of Roy Sorenson, Blindspots, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1988: History and Philosophy of Logic 11:243-5, 1990. Pre-publication pdf.
1989
— Review of Bob Hale, Abstract Objects, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1987, History and Philosophy of Logic 10, 1989. Pre-publication pdf.
1987
— Ideas for a Theory of Rules, doctoral dissertation, 1987. Pdf-file (scanned, searchable, medium quality, 4 MB).
