The Lewd, the Rude and the Nasty

Pekka Väyrynen is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at University of Leeds.

• Contents ; 1 Why Thick Concepts Matter ; 1.1 A Brief Preview ; 1.2 The Intuitive Distinction ; 1.3 Two Questions about the Thick ; 1.4 Thick Matters ; 1.5 Looking Ahead ; 2 Thick Concepts, Meaning and Evaluation ; 2.1 What is Evaluation? ; 2.2 What is Meaning? ; 2.3 What Count as Thick Terms and Concepts? ; 2.4 Global vs. Embedded Evaluations ; 3 Against the Semantic View I: The Data ; 3.1 Methodology: A Quick Overview ; 3.2 Objectionable Thick Terms and Concepts ; 3.3 Evaluations and Projection ; 3.4 Evaluations and Deniability ; 3.5 Conclusion ; 4 Against the Semantic View II: Against Rival Explanations ; 4.1 Three False Starts ; 4.2 Unwanted Implicatures? ; 4.3 Empty Thick Concepts? ; 4.4 Inverted-Commas Uses of Thick Terms? ; 4.5 Deniability and Metalinguistic Negation ; 4.6 Conclusion ; 5 In Defense of the Pragmatic View ; 5.1 T-Evaluations and Implicature ; 5.2 T-Evaluations and Conventions of Use ; 5.3 T-Evaluations and Presupposition ; 5.4 T-Evaluations and Pragmatic Not-At-Issue Content ; 5.5 Conclusion ; 6 Thick Pragmatics ; 6.1 T-Evaluations and Parochiality ; 6.2 T-Evaluations and Communicative Interests ; 6.3 Three Objections ; 6.4 More on Parochiality ; 6.5 The Scope of the Pragmatic View ; 6.6 Conclusion ; 7 Thick Concepts and Underdetermination ; 7.1 Disagreement and Extension ; 7.2 Underdetermination and Evaluation ; 7.3 Underdetermination and Gradability ; 7.4 Explaining Underdetermination+ ; 7.5 Conclusion ; 8 Shapelessness, Disentanglement and Irreducible Thickness ; 8.1 The Shapelessness Thesis ; 8.2 Shapelessness and Outrunning ; 8.3 The Inseparability Thesis ; 8.4 Irreducibly Thick Evaluation? ; 8.5 Conclusion ; 9 Thick Concepts and Variability ; 9.1 The Variability Argument ; 9.2 Variability and Comparative Constructions ; 9.3 Variability in the Positive Form? ; 9.4 Variability and the Semantic View ; 9.5 Variability and Specificity ; 9.6 Conclusion ; 10 Thick Concepts: Deflating Significance ; 10.1 Fact-Value Distinctions ; 10.2 Normative Reasons ; 10.3 Reflection and Objectivity ; 10.4 Beyond the Thick/Thin Distinction ; 10.5 A Final Summary ; Appendix: A List of Named Theses ; Bibliography

Väyrynen's book incorporates fascinating discussions on numerous meta-ethical issues that have gone unexamined in this review. Such topics include evaluation, variability, shapelessness, irreducibility, disentanglement, parochiality, and underdetermination. In step with the three arguments I have discussed, Väyrynen approaches these major topics with equal precision and attention to linguistic detail. As such, his book deserves careful study by ethicists and linguists alike.