Aesthetic adjectives lack uniform behavior*. Issue 6 (17th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liao, Shen-yi; McNally, Louise; Meskin, Aaron
• Is Part Of: Inquiry. Volume 59:Issue 6(2016)
• Page Start: 618
• Page End: 631
• Publication Date: 2016-08-17
• Subjects: Aesthetic adjectives -- aesthetic concepts -- gradable adjectives -- predicates of personal taste -- experimental semantics -- experimental philosophy -- experimental philosophical aesthetics -- context -- comparison class; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Social Sciences -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; Philosophie -- Périodiques; Sciences sociales -- Philosophie -- Périodiques; 105
• DOI: 10.1080/0020174X.2016.1208927
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-174X

Abstract

Abstract: The goal of this short paper is to show that esthetic adjectives—exemplified by "beautiful" and "elegant"—do not pattern stably on a range of linguistic diagnostics that have been used to taxonomize the gradability properties of adjectives. We argue that a plausible explanation for this puzzling data involves distinguishing two properties of gradable adjectives that have been frequently conflated: whether an adjective's applicability is sensitive to a comparison class, and whether an adjective's applicability is context-dependent.