Reply to Strawson 2

This chapter considers a second response to Strawson’s challenge, which contends that conceptual engineering can be appropriate even when it does not preserve topic, due to the importance of what are called ‘lexical effects’. It begins by introducing some examples of lexical effects, which are cognitive and emotive effects caused by a word that are not part of its semantics or its pragmatics. It then articulates the idea that a non-topic-preserving change of meaning can be motivated by desirable lexical effects of certain words. For example, it may be important to continue to use the word ‘marriage’ despite a change of topic because of the associations this word has to celebration, love, commitment, and so on. It then lays out some of the risks of non-topic-preserving meaning change, focusing on the potential for miscommunication and verbal disputes. It concludes that the exploitation of lexical effects ought to be avoided.