Subsentential Metasemantics

Abstract

A subsentential metasemantics provides an explanation of the meaning of subsentential parts. Practical expressivism holds that moral predicates’ contribution to the explanation of meaning is a function from the subject of a sentence to a moral attitude directed at that subject. Similarly, non-moral or descriptive predicates contribute a function from the subject of a sentence to a descriptive representation (a belief) that attributes a property to that subject. These claims are consistent with standard views of quantifiers as allowing us to make claims about the scope of the correct application of the predicates they govern, and tenses as delineating the range of subjects to which those predicates apply. The explanation of meaning provided by practical expressivism is potentially compatible with truth-conditional semantic theories so long as practical expressivists can claim that moral sentences are truth-apt.