Seminars of Philosophy of Perception, Mind, and Language — Spring session, 2018

 

Delia Belleri (Vienna)

Two Species of Merely Verbal Dispute

 

5 marzo 2018, h. 15.00-17.00

Sala "Enzo Paci" — Direzione del Dipartimento (Via Festa del Perdono 7, Milano)

 

La conferenza si terrà in inglese.

La partecipazione è fortemente raccomandata agli allievi del Scuola di Dottorato in Filosofia e Scienze dell’Uomo.

Tutti gli interessati sono invitati a partecipare.

 

Abstract

It is common to criticize a debate by alleging that it is a merely verbal dispute. But how conclusive would an argument based on such allegations be? I will take the material composition debate as a case-study and argue that the mere-verbality move is less decisive than one might expect. While assessing the dialectical effectiveness of the mere-verbality move, I will also try to mark some progress in the philosophical understanding and appreciation of the phenomenon itself of merely verbal disputes. My contribution will consist in shedding light on a distinction between the “faultlessness” and “faultiness” of a verbal dispute.