Teleosemantics: Intentionality, Productivity, and the Theory of Meaning

Since the publication of RuthMillikan’s Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories in 1984, a great deal of literature has discussed her so called teleosemantic or biosemantic solution to the problem of intentionality. Only recently, though, has much attention been paid to her co ordinated solution to the problem of productivity. This article, first, clearly describes the problems of intentionality, productivity, and compositionality, and describes their relationships and their relevance for the theory of meaning. It then describes Millikan’s proposal with respect to the problem of intentionality and shows how this buys her a novel solution to the problem of productivity. The article closes by discussing some alternative teleosemantic theories and some issues that will contribute to deciding between them.