On the Alleged Ambiguity of `Now' and `Here'

Utterance at a distance

“…The arguments of this paper are concerned only with the pure indexical 'here'. For further discussion of this distinction and of alleged cases of ambiguity even within the scope of what are traditionally seen as pure indexical uses, such as those arising from uses of the historical present tense, see Corazza (2006).…”

I Am Still Not Here Now

“…Smith (1989) is the most explicit and radical commitment to the ambiguity thesis: 'the character/role/meaning of an indexical changes from use to (relevantly different) use' (Smith 1989, p. 167). For further criticisms of the ambiguity thesis, and in particular of Smith's appeal to 'metacharacters', see Corazza (2006), Corazza et al (2002), and Krasner (2006). Given the unattractiveness of the ambiguity thesis, any approach to 'I', 'here', and 'now' at least superficially committed to the denial of anchoring must be grounded on the hypothesis that these expressions are associated with unique characters, distinct from those suggested by Kaplan.…”

“…One further position deserves to be examined before I conclude this section, Eros Corazza's view that 'I', 'here', and 'now' may function 'anaphorically' (Corazza 2006). 9 Traditionally, an anaphoric expression is evaluated by taking into consideration the semantic value of another expression, its 'antecedent'.…”

“…On the automatic/non-automatic divide, see alsoRecanati (2002),Perry (2003), andCorazza (2006). A precursor of the idea that at least 'here' occasionally functions demonstratively can be found inKaplan (1977) andColterjohn and MacIntosh (1987).…”

Fiction as a Base of Interpretation Contexts

“…Finally, I maintain that, from the explanatory point of view, the fictionalist theory is at least as rich as another theory which Corazza (2004a) has recently proposed to deal with the same issues, i.e., the unbound anaphora theory. For it may also account for examples involving historical present, fictitious present, as well as fictitious languages.…”