Expressive Power and Duties of Meaning Production

Abstract This chapter puts forth a full-fledged, systematic account of duties of meaning production. Unsurprisingly, the account is functionalist. It proposes that a linguistic community has an obligation to generate a particular representational device insofar as there is a categorical need of an increase in expressive power in the community at stake, which would thereby be alleviated; there is capacity to generate the representational device in question on the part of the linguistic community at stake; and there are no overriding reasons against doing so. In turn, categorical needs pertaining to expressive power are unpacked as pertaining to proper cognitive functioning.