Title
Date of Award
2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Philosophy
First Advisor
Michael Weisberg
Abstract
This dissertation develops an ethics of meaning. In the first chapter, I offer an account of meaning that comprehends its many varieties—natural, cultural, linguistic, literary, and ethical meaning, for example—by appeal to the structural role meaning plays in the practice of interpretation. In Chapter 2, I develop a distinctive account of the concept of ethical meaning (“meaning” as it’s used in the phrase “the meaning of life”). In Chapter 3, I develop a new account of irony on the basis of the comprehensive-interpretive account of meaning introduced in Chapter 1.
Recommended Citation
Willison, Robert B., "The Ethics Of Meaning" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2795.
https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2795
Included in
Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons