Linguistic Experts and Degrees of Conceptual Competence

How are our thoughts made up of concepts that we possess? How does our understanding of the words we use determine what we think? The aim of Linguistic Experts and Degrees of Conceptual Competence is to present and defend a theory of understanding and concept possession. The author starts out by arguing for some minimal assumptions about concept ascriptions and language mastery. On the basis of these assumptions a general question is developed: How well must a person understand a language expression in order to possess the expert concept that the expression literally expresses? Most of the book is devoted to a defense of the view that a minimal understanding is sufficient provided that some further conditions are met.In the last part of the book the author argues that this view is inconsistent with many influential theories about the nature of thought and meaning, and that it has important implications for topics such as self- knowledge and content externalism. This book should be of interest to anyone who is interested in philosophy of mind and language and fundamental questions about communication, understanding and degrees of conceptual competence.