An Empirical Solution to the Puzzle of Macbeth's Dagger

dc.contributor.authorD'Ambrosio, Justin
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-23T04:58:18Z
dc.date.issued2020-05-29
dc.date.updated2021-12-02T05:01:51Z
dc.description.abstractIn this paper I present an empirical solution to the puzzle of Macbeth's dagger. The puzzle of Macbeth's dagger is the question of whether, in having his fatal vision of a dagger, Macbeth sees a dagger. I answer this question by addressing a more general one: the question of whether perceptual verbs are intensional transitive verbs (ITVs). I present seven experiments, each of which tests a collection of perceptual verbs for one of the three features characteristic of ITVs. One of these features is NONEXISTENCE: the failure of sentences involving transitive verbs to entail the existence of their direct objects. The experiments reveal that with respect to all three of these features, "see" behaves much more like a paradigmatically extensional verb than an intensional one. But surprisingly, unlike "see", "perceive" behaves much more like a paradigmatically intensional verb. This shows that the category of perceptual verbs is not uniform with respect to the features of intensionality; while Macbeth does not see a dagger, he may still perceive one.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn1572-8420en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/205460
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.publisherSpringer Netherlands
dc.rights© 2020 Springer Nature B.V.
dc.sourceErkenntnis
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-020-00253-0
dc.titleAn Empirical Solution to the Puzzle of Macbeth's Dagger
dc.typeJournal article
dcterms.dateAccepted2020-03-27
local.contributor.affiliationD'Ambrosio, Justin, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu1042213@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidD'Ambrosio, Justin, u1042213en_AU
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor220313 - Philosophy of Languageen_AU
local.identifier.absfor220314 - Philosophy of Mind (excl. Cognition)en_AU
local.identifier.absseo970122 - Expanding Knowledge in Philosophy and Religious Studiesen_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB12542en_AU
local.identifier.citationvolumeForthcoming
local.identifier.doi10.1007/s10670-020-00253-0en_AU
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-85085895125
local.identifier.uidSubmittedBya383154en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://link.springer.com/en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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