The metaphysics of puns

Miller, James

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to discuss what puns, metaphysically, are. I argue that the type-token view of words leads to an indeterminacy problem when we consider puns. I then outline an alternative account of puns, based on recent nominalist views of words, that does not suffer from this indeterminacy.

Citation

Miller, J. (2024). The metaphysics of puns. Synthese, 203(5), Article 130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-024-04583-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 28, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 18, 2024
• Publication Date: Apr 18, 2024
• Deposit Date: Apr 16, 2024
• Journal: Synthese
• Print ISSN: 0039-7857
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 203
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 130
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-024-04583-2
• Keywords: Words, Type-token, Puns, Nominalism, Indeterminacy
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2385200