A Guide to Naturalizing Semantics

Semantic predicates is true, refers, is about, has the truth conditional content that p and so forthapply to various items, most centrally to natural language expressions and to mental states and events (types and tokens). For example, both the sentence "The cat is crying" and the belief that the cat is crying are about the cat and possess the truth conditional content that the cat is crying. It is generally (and correctly) held that the semantic properties of natural language expressions (and other non-mental representations) are derived from the semantic properties of mental states. According to one version of this view natural language expressions obtain their semantic properties from conventions governing their use. These conventions are themselves explained in terms of regularities involving the beliefs, intentions, and so forth of speakers of the language. In the following I will assume that some such view is correct and focus on the semantic properties of mental states and events.