A Matter of Semantics helps students learn that college is not only about the academics. Of course the academics are important - they're vital, in fact. But, those social, emotional, and psychological lessons that college students experience outside of the classroom end up accounting for 70-80% of what they actually learn. What's more, after financial hardships, students end up leaving college not because they are incapable of handling the academic and intellectual challenges of college life, but because they are incapable of handling the outside-of-the-classroom elements of college life. But, every student has the ability to succeed in college and A Matter of Semantics helps prepare students for the rigors of college by attesting to the importance of personal exploration and encouraging students to spend as much energy developing their personal selves as they spend developing their academic selves. This book also provides a distinct look into the life lessons the college experience teaches as well as strategies for navigating those lessons. In the end, the college experience becomes about each student, and the unique journey they take to create the success they wish for in college and in life. As for the title - the institution of higher education is unparalleled in its ability to provide young adults with opportunities to learn and grow in ways no other institution can offer; so as long as teenagers go on to college, wherever they decide to pursue their education will, in the end, become just a matter of semantics.

Semantics for Reasons is a book about what we mean when we talk about reasons. It not only brings together the theory of reasons and natural language semantics in original ways but also sketches out a litany of implications for metaethics and the philosophy of normativity. In their account of how the language of reasons works, Bryan R. Weaver and Kevin Scharp propose and defend a view called Question Under Discussion (QUD) Reasons Contextualism. They use this view to argue for a series of novel positions on the ontology of reasons, indexical facts, the reasons-to-be-rational debate, moral reasons, and the reasons-first approach.

Introduces the major elements of semantics in a simple, step-by-step fashion. Sections of explanation and examples are followed by practice exercises with answers and comment provided.

Social Semantics: The Search for Meaning on the Web provides a unique introduction to identity and reference theories of the World Wide Web, through the academic lens of philosophy of language and data-driven statistical models. The Semantic Web is a natural evolution of the Web, and this book covers the URL-based Web architecture and Semantic Web in detail. It has a robust empirical side which has an impact on industry. Social Semantics: The Search for Meaning on the Web discusses how the largest problem facing the Semantic Web is the problem of identity and reference, and how these are the results of a larger general theory of meaning. This book hypothesizes that statistical semantics can solve these problems, illustrated by case studies ranging from a pioneering study of tagging systems to using the Semantic Web to boost the results of commercial search engines. Social Semantics: The Search for Meaning on the Web targets practitioners working in the related fields of the semantic web, search engines, information retrieval, philosophers of language and more. Advanced-level students and researchers focusing on computer science will also find this book valuable as a secondary text or reference book.

In this user-friendly book, parents learn revolutionary common sense techniques for raising successful children with disabilities. When we recognize that disability is a natural part of the human experience, new attitudes lead to new actions for successful lives at home, in school and in communities. When parents replace today's conventional wisdom with the common sense values and creative thinking detailed in this book, all children with disabilities (regardless of age or type of disability) can live the life of their dreams. Readers will learn how to define a child by his or her assets - instead of a disability-related "problem," and how to create new and improved partnerships with educators, health care professionals, family and friends

This book offers an introduction to the analysis of meaning. Our outstanding ability to communicate is a distinguishing feature of our species. To communicate is to convey meaning, but what is meaning? How do words combine to give us the meanings of sentences? And what makes a statement ambiguous or nonsensical? These questions and many others are addressed in Paul Elbourne's fascinating guide. He opens by asking what kinds of things the meanings of words and sentences could be: are they, for example, abstract objects or psychological entities? He then looks at how we understand a sequence of words we have never heard before; he considers to what extent the meaning of a sentence can be derived from the words it contains and how to account for the meanings that can't be; and he examines the roles played by time, place, and the shared and unshared assumptions of speakers and hearers. He looks at how language interacts with thought and the intriguing question of whether what language we speak affects the way we see the world. Meaning, as might be expected, is far from simple. Paul Elbourne explores its complex issues in crystal clear language. He draws on approaches developed in linguistics, philosophy, and psychology - assuming a knowledge of none of them -in a manner that will appeal to everyone interested in this essential element of human psychology and culture.

This book explores linguistic and philosophical issues presented by sentences expressing personal taste, such as Roller coasters are fun, and examines how truth-theoretic semantics can account for expressions of this type. It provides a detailed and explicit formal grammar paired with semantic analysis and pragmatic theory.