Context and communication: A defense of intentionalism

Context, I argue, plays an evidential role, rather than a constitutive one, regarding content. According to intentionalism, the view I defend, the content of an utterance is fixed by the speaker's intention. I explain why intentionalism offers a more plausible picture of communication than anti-intentionalism. I then examine a number of specific indexicals, and show why we should take their referents to be determined by the speakers’ intentions. I also explain briefly how my defense of intentionalism can be extended to direct and indirect illocutionary acts.