Pulling Down the Hierarchy

ABSTRACT This paper is about the hierarchy view: that each word has infinitely many meanings, arranged into levels, with the level n meaning serving as its semantic value when it occurs embedded to degree n in indirect or attitude reporting verbs. Departing from the famous debates over the bare tenability of the hierarchy view, I focus on whether there is any positive reason to endorse it. Philosophers have offered two such reasons. One appeals to intersubstitutability phenomena, first pointed out by Benson Mates. The other appeals to Frege's theory of indirect discourse. I examine each of these and find that neither actually supports the view. Regardless of its bare tenability then, we should reject the view.