Temporal Externalism, Context Sensitivity, and Matters of Taste

Abstract

Abstract Building on the discussion in chapter 8, this chapter develops a temporal externalist theory of a range of context-sensitive expressions, including gradable adjectives and predicates of taste. It is shown that discussions involving these expressions mirror the definitional disputes discussed in chapters 5 and 6, and that David Lewis’s account of accommodation takes the first step toward a temporal externalist account. TI develop this account is developed further, and appliedy it to disputes about taste. It is shown that disputes about taste are not as distinctive as some theorists have argued, and in particular that the appearance that such disputes involve faultless disagreement is illusory.