This project defends a normative metasemantic view of hybrid representations. By representations we refer to activities such as linguistic speech acts, communicative acts in different media, the products of such activities, and the mental states or attitudes that these activities and their products express. By hybrid we refer to their multidimensional nature: for instance, that they don’t merely describe or categorise, they often also evaluate or affectively appraise. Our metasemantics is Austinian, and distinguishes the general effects of speech practices, tools, and artefacts from their specific functions those that the being in force of their defining constitutive rules is meant to achieve. We aim to continue to explore the implications of the pervasiveness and indispensability of hybrid representations for the nature of representations in general by investigating thick and dual-character concepts and hybrid artworks, and also to assess new challenges arising from non-ideal philosophy of language. The new challenges are motivated by a variety of cases derogation, expressives, nonliteral speech, political manipulation and propaganda which we will address. We further aim to show that research on hybrid concepts (thick and dual-character) and on artworks properly puts into perspective the strength of the case for new non-ideal theories.
The project runs the reading group on hybrid representations (convened by Teresa Marques).
Other reading groups related to the various workpackages of the project:
– Semantics and pragmatics (convenor: Josep Macià)
– Gender, Race, and Sexuality: Philosophy of Language and Social Ontology (convenors: Esa Díaz-León and Martina Rosola)
– Philosophy of film (convenors: Manuel García-Carpintero and Josep Corbí)
Upcoming BIAP Conference, jointly organized with WP5 and WP6:
- Lies, Fiction, and Manipulation in Propaganda, 12-13 February 2026.
BIAP Collaborative Research Event: Lies, Fiction, and Manipulation in Propaganda
Recent events organized or sponsored by the project include:
