Department of Philosophy, Yale University, P.O. Box 208306, New Haven, CT 06520-8306

JESSICA KEISER

Department of Philosophy, Yale University, P.O. Box 208306, New Haven, CT 06520-8306

RESEARCH AREAS

SPECIALIZATIONPhilosophy of Language

COMPETENCELogic, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Art

EDUCATION

YALE UNIVERSITYMA, PhD in philosophy (expected)2017

FLORENCE ACADEMYCertificate in painting2007

of ART

TAYLOR UNIVERSITYBA in philosophy2004

DISSERTATION

TITLECoordinating with Language

COMMITTEEZoltánSzabó(Chair),

Elisabeth Camp, Larry Horn,Jason Stanley

SUMMARYMy project is to build a new framework for a theory of communication, starting from the ground up. The foundation for this framework consists in the following metasemantic proposal: facts about linguistic meaning are grounded in conventions of locutionary action. My account of locutionary action—which I define as direct meaning—relies on several crucial features which set my theory apart from a more familiar metasemantic picture inherited from the work of David Lewis and Paul Grice. Most critically, I rely on a liberal definition of meaning, according to which a speaker means something merely by having the intention that her audience attend to a certain content, rather than do something—such as update her information state—with that content. This feature allows my account to extend beyond the traditional, overly-idealized conception of linguistic communication as rational and cooperative information exchange, to cover those “non-ideal”—yet perfectly ordinary and ubiquitious—communication settings which are often characterized by features such as conflict, non-literal speech, joking, story-telling, etc.

This metasemantic proposal, presented in the first section of the dissertation, provides a new framework for understanding reference, implicature, and other traditional topics in the philosophy of language that cannot be fully successfully theorized about independently of metasemantic considerations. I develop the implications my theory has for some of these issues in the remainder of the dissertation. The second part of my dissertation deals with the ontology of languages and populations. In this section as well as the first, I am concerned with moving away from overly idealized models. In particular, I focus onthe problem of how to model language as an abstract semantic system in a way that lets us account for the intricate and often messy phenomena—such as rampant context-sensitivity, dialect variation, and language change—that characterize actual human language use.The final section builds on the framework developed in the first two sections, exploring its implications for speech acts. Here I develop a novel account of assertion that provides a robust explanation for which norms are operative in which contexts.

COURSES TAUGHT

AS PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR

Introduction to Ethics Gateway Community College 2016-2017

Philosophy of Law Yale University 2016

Philosophy of Art Florence Academy of Art, US2014-2015

DrawingUniversity of Missouri 2007-2009

Drawing Florence Academy of Art 2006-2007

AS TEACHING ASSISTANT

Propaganda Yale University 2016, Jason Stanley

Mathematical Logic Yale University 2015, Sun-Joo Shin

Introduction to Early Yale University 2014, Michael Della Rocca

Modern Philosophy

Mathematical Logic Yale University 2013 (spring), Sun-Joo Shin

Mathematical Logic Yale University 2013 (fall), Sun-Joo Shin

History of Aesthetics Yale University 2012, Karsten Harries

PUBLICATIONS

“Bald-Faced Lies: How to make a move in a language game without making a move in a conversation”, Philosophical Studies173 (2):461-477.

“Coordinating with Language”, forthcoming in the Croatian Journal of Philosophy.

“Varieties of Intentionalism”, forthcoming inPreyer, Gerhard (ed).Semantics, Pragmatics and Interpretation. Oxford University Press.

PRESENTATIONS

PAPERS

“Perduring Languages”

Philosophy of Language and Linguistics

Interuniversity Center, Dubrovnik, 2016

“Coordination with Language”

Philosophy of Language and Linguistics

Interuniversity Center, Dubrovnik, 2015

“Bald-Faced Lies: How to make a move in a language game without making a move in a conversation”

Mentoring Workshop for Graduate Women in Philosophy

Princeton University, 2014

COMMENTS

On Don Fallis “Are Bald-faced Lies Deceptive After All?”

APA Central Division Meeting 2014

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ORGANIZATION of CONFERENCES and WORKSHOPS

Yale Symposium on Skills and Practices

Yale, co-organized with Jason Stanley, 2014

Yale Symposium on Generics

Yale, co-organized with ZoltánSzabó, 2013

Lectures in Honor of Ruth Barcan Marcus

CUNY, co-organized with Rachel McKinney, 2013

EDITORIAL WORK

Editorial Assistant, Philosopher’s Imprint, 2011-2016

COURSES TAKEN

Knowledge and Action (audit)Timothy Williamson and Jason Stanley

Language and Power (audit)Jason Stanley

Early Modern Philosophy of Language (audit)ZoltánSzabó and Ken Winkler

Metaphysics Through Language (audit) ZoltánSzabó

Modal Logic and Metaphysics (audit)Jason Stanley

Questions (audit)ZoltánSzabó and B.R. George

Philosophy of Philosophy (audit)George Bealer

PragmaticsLarry Horn andTamina Stephenson

Frege’s Philosophy of Logic and LanguageSusaneBobzien

Propositional AttitudesBruno Whittle

The Philosophy of SpinozaMichael Della Rocca

ConventionZoltánSzabó

Topics in EpistemologyKeith DeRose

Philosophical LogicGeorge Bealer and Raul Saucedo

Sidgwick’s Methods of EthicsShelly Kagan

Hume’s AestheticsKen Winkler

Math LogicSun-Joo Shin

ContextZoltánSzabó

First Year SeminarGeorge Bealer and Jill North

Aristotle and Contemprary Virtue EthicsIakovosVasiliou

Interpretation and MeaningStephen Neale and Noel Carrol

EthicsStephen Ross

Modal LogicRichard Mendelsohn and Melvin Fitting

Kripke Beyond Naming/NecessityNathan Salmon

ProseminarJesse Prinz and IakovosVasiliou

MetaphysicsMatthew McGrath

EpistemologyPeter Markie