From pictures to semantical games

Hintikka's journey through semantic representationalism

Juan J. Acero

pp. 19-48

in: Hans van Ditmarsch, Paul-Gabriel Sandu (eds), Jaakko Hintikka on knowledge and game-theoretical semantics, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

This essays examines Hintikka's trajectory through Semantic Representationalism from the classical, i.e. Wittgensteinian, Picture Theory of Meaning to Game-Theoretical Semantics. It starts by asking what makes a sentence a representation of a fact and what conditions enable a sentence to represent something. It is argued that at the end of his journey Hintikka conceives of the representational function of sentences as arising from the norms that regulate their place in verification practices. As a consequence of it, the analysis of semantic representation in terms of an isomorphic relation between sentences and facts is replaced by a theory based on the concept of winning strategy in a semantical game. This maneuver allows Hintikka to emphasize that semantical representation is shaped by normative constraints that rule the specific activities involved in those games.

Cited authors

Wittgenstein Ludwig

Hintikka Jaakko