Devin W. Frank

Devin W. Frank

Personal profile

About

I specialize in philosophy of language and metaphysics, with additional interests in philosophy of mind and epistemology. Outside of philosophy, I enjoy playing music (recently, fingerstyle guitar) and am an avid appreciator of the arts in all of their forms. 

My office hours are Mondays 3pm-4pm, Wednesdays 3pm-5pm, and Fridays 9am-10am.

Contact Information

Office: 3532 - Coleman Hall
Email: [email protected]

Related documents

Education/Academic qualification

Philosophy, B.A., Iowa State University

Philosophy, Ph.D., University of Missouri

Research Interests

  • I am primarily interested in issues at the intersection of philosophy of language and metaphysics. My research focuses on the nature of propositional content - the objects of belief and other so-called propositional attitudes, the meanings of declarative sentences, and the primary bearers of truth and falsity. If the object of belief is distinct from my believing it, and the meaning of a sentence distinct from the sentence (and capable of serving as the meaning of sentences from different languages), what is this thing that is believed or expressed by a sentence and how do we grasp it in thought? I defend a minimalist conception of propositions which takes them to be primitives within a semantic theory. This view stands in contrast to substantive accounts of propositions which take them to be structured entities composed of constituents unified in some way, or set-theoretic entities built up from possible worlds.

Disciplines

  • Philosophy
  • Epistemology
  • Philosophy of Language
  • Philosophy of Mind

  • Propositions

    McGrath, M. & Frank, D. W., 2020, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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