Is semantics still possible

Abstract The standard view of semantics—that every disambiguated sentence has a determinate semantic content, relative to an assignment of contents to its indexical expressions, and not necessarily identical to what may be conveyed (pragmatically) by its utterance—is defended against standard objections and is also argued for on independent grounds, which suggest that resistance to the view comes from a failure to distinguish between “strict semantics” and “loose semantics”.