A Study on the Chinese and English Euphemisms from the Perspective of Philosophy of Mind

This paper explores the generation and the interpretation of euphemism based on the achievements of philosophy of mind. It is found that euphemism origins from the intentionality. Under the common restriction of intentional content and intentional attitude, the speaker has the free will to select appropriate euphemism by means of psychological supervenience. On the other hand, the interpretation of euphemism depends on the hearer's subjective mental feeling of sensing quale, which contributes to the reasoning and recognition of the speaker's real meaning, eventually achieving effective communication. As a complementary method to euphemism study, the present research illustrates the feasibility of the philosophy-of-mind theory in language studies, provides the mental explanation for euphemism and opens up a new perspective for analyzing discourse generative and interpretative mechanisms.