conjunctionist

A conjunctionist is a term used in logic and philosophy of language to describe an individual who believes that certain logical conjunctions, such as "and," possess a meaning beyond simply connecting two propositions. This contrasts with the standard logical view, where conjunction is treated as truth-functional, meaning the truth value of a conjunction depends solely on the truth values of its constituent parts.

Conjunctionists argue that the word "and" can convey additional information, such as a causal link, a temporal sequence, or an inferential relationship between the connected statements. For example, in the sentence "It rained, and the streets got wet," a conjunctionist might suggest that the "and" implies that the rain caused the streets to get wet, rather than simply stating that both events occurred.

The study of conjunctionism explores the nuances of how humans use and interpret conjunctions in natural language. It often involves analyzing linguistic examples, considering cognitive processing, and distinguishing between logical entailment and pragmatic inference. While formal logic typically abstracts away these additional meanings for simplicity and universality, conjunctionism aims to capture a more complete understanding of how meaning is conveyed in everyday communication. The debate in this area concerns the extent to which these additional meanings are inherent to the word "and" itself versus being inferred from context and background knowledge.