Indexicality and The Answering Machine Paradox
Jonathan A. Cohen, Eliot Michaelson · Philosophy Compass · 2013
Abstract Answering machines and other types of recording devices present prima facie problems for traditional theories of the meaning of indexicals. The present essay explores a range of semantic and pragmatic responses to these issues. Careful attention to the difficulties posed by recordings promises to help enlighten the boundaries between semantics and pragmatics more broadly.