A Corpus Study of Know: On the Verification of Philosophers' Frequency Claims about Language
Hansen N., Porter JD., Francis K.
We investigate claims about the frequency of know made by philosophers. Our investigation has several overlapping aims. First, we aim to show what is required to confirm or disconfirm philosophers' claims about the comparative frequency of different uses of philosophically interesting expressions. Second, we aim to show how using linguistic corpora as tools for investigating meaning is a productive methodology, in the sense that it yields discoveries about the use of language that philosophers would have overlooked if they remained in their armchairs of an afternoon, to use J.L. Austin's phrase. Third, we discuss facts about the meaning of know that so far have been ignored in philosophy, with the aim of reorienting discussions of the relevance of ordinary language for philosophical theorizing.