Conversations Online: Explorations in Philosophy of Language

By P. J. Connolly, Jennifer M. Saul, Sanford C. Goldberg

The growth of communication technologies has profoundly and inescapably impacted politics, society, and how we coordinate our lives. One of the central components of this change has been the transformation in our communicative possibilities. Amongst other things, the internet has given rise to new linguistic phenomena, novel ways of doing things with words, and new types of communicative behaviour. It has created communicative possibilities that we might think are broadly positive, and yet it has also been instrumental in—and the locus for—the spread of malevolent types of speech.

Conversations Online collects eighteen original contributions from twenty-six philosophers of language. These thinkers are well-placed to provide insights that can help us sift through and understand linguistic phenomena in online settings, considering them in terms of existing theories and providing analyses that will be helpful for anybody who is interested in online communication. Together they show that great possibilities are available to us when we look at conversations online and develop a broader understanding of how language develops in digital settings. This diverse volume will not only advance the topic of online communication within philosophy of language—it will also equip readers with a better understanding of the utility of the field and the many ways in which technological developments are changing how we interact.

Chapter 2 of this work is available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International open access licence. This part of the work is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198872089
• ISBN13: 9780198872085
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 416 Pages