inferentialism

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noun

Inferential role semantics: an approach to the theory of meaning that identifies the meaning of an expression with its (typically inferential) relationship to other expressions.

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Meanings

nouninferentialism (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehuman sciencesInferential role semantics: an approach to the theory of meaning that identifies the meaning of an expression with its (typically inferential) relationship to other expressions.

    This crude inferentialism about recognition, of course, is not often explicitly defended: it is extremely implausible—just on plain phenomenological grounds—that recognition must be a matter of discursive reasoning.

    2008 January 8, Markos Valaris, “Two-dimensionalism and the epistemology of recognition”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 142, number 3, →DOI

Origin

From inferential + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

inferentialism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inferentialism

MLA

“inferentialism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inferentialism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inferentialism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inferentialism.

Source: inferentialism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.