It is fundamental that, in philosophy, we make sure that we are not mistaking merely verbal disputes, or “conceptual” disputes, for substantive ones. This essay presents a tripartite framework that is useful for clarifying cases where it is difficult to tell whether we are engaged in substantive or non-substantive disputes. For this purpose, the essay offers some combinatorial possibilities between the following levels: verbal, conceptual, and objectual. We need to distinguish whether we are arguing about the world, concepts, or words to avoid talking at cross-purposes and to recognize when our disputes are not worth the time. Distinguishing between these three levels can also throw light and guide research on conceptual engineering, metalinguistic negotiations, metaontology, and so on.

中文翻译：

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不仅仅是口头上的争论

至关重要的是，在哲学中，我们确保我们不会将仅仅口头上的争议或“概念”上的争议误认为是实质性的争议。本文提出了一个三方框架，有助于澄清难以判断我们是否参与实质性或非实质性争议的案例。为此，本文提供了以下层次之间的一些组合可能性：语言、概念和对象。我们需要区分我们是在争论世界、概念还是文字，以避免相互矛盾的谈话，并认识到我们的争论何时不值得花时间。区分这三个层次还可以为概念工程、元语言协商、元本体论等方面的研究提供启发和指导。