Questions tagged [meaning]
The relationship among signs and the kinds of things they intend, express, or signify; a concept central to semantics which is the study of how meaning comes about.
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What is an "unarticulated background"?
Does a sentence only mean something because it draws on knowledge outside of itself? Take 2 + 2 = 4: is it a tautology? No: it depends on a conception of '+', which is not located within that sentence/...
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Is there a point to arguing about the meaning of words?
Firstly, I should mention that I am not sure, whether this the right place to ask such a question, but I am trying it anyway. Furthermore, one could say I come from a mathematics background and I am ...
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Do Wittgenstein and Quine give the same criticisms of semantics?
What is the connection between the criticisms offered by Wittgenstein and Quine of meaning and language? Are both philosophers generally criticizing the same semantic theories with similar arguments, ...
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Can there be a sufficient account of meaning without an account of intentionality?
Much has been said in recent philosophy in criticism of representationalist theories of meaning. The idea is that any representation can represent what it will only in a prior, limiting context. ...
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Can a life have a trivial meaning if it's all there is?
I was thinking about (something like) Nagel's view from nowhere
When one takes up this most external standpoint and views one's
finite—and even downright puny—impact on the world, little of one's
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Understanding Grice's Theory of (Non-Natural) Meaning
I am trying to understand Paul Grice's famous essay "Meaning".
So consider a computer system which is fed a dictionary of every English word in existence. The computer system then randomly spits out ...
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What is the difference between responsibility and commitment?
I was recently looking at philosophy of responsibility, and something interesting which I had not thought about before, was that the way we use "responsibility" includes things not necessarily caused ...
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What fallacy infers motivation from mere description?
Here's some example:
"Men dominate women in the majority of fortune top 100 CEO positions"
"Women dominate men in primary school teaching jobs"
Neither the men nor the women are actually purposely ...
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Is Peirce's pragmatic maxim self-evident?
Peirce's pragmatic maxim seems to have an appeal, at least as a "tiebreaker":
Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have....
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How does Derrida explain the possibility of meaningful communication and linguistic coordination?
Consider this passage on Derrida and meaning (from here):
The search for an 'essential reality' or 'origin' or 'truth' is futile, because
"...language bears within itself the necessity of its ...
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Would a pragmatist allow that meaning is representational of things in its use?
Pragmatism contends that use should be stressed when talking about the meaning of words before 'representation'.
But what if we were to look at signification/representation as a sort of activity?
If ...
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Can meaning indeterminately be said to be indeterminate?
James Ross has given several reasons as to why he believes thought (and formal thought especially) is determinate. Among these, and under a formulation put forward by the contemporary philosopher ...
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Why are propositions about Hamlet false while propositions about Louis XIX meaningless?
The following is an excerpt from Russell's "My Philosophical Development," Chapter XIV Universals and Particulars and Names:
'Hamlet' pretends to be a name, but is not; and all statements about
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Name for a form of naturalism that allows for abstract objects
Some of the more pressing arguments against materialism involve their inability to account for abstract objects such as meaning or reference. A few definitions before I continue:
Abstract object: an ...
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"There is always a kind of contempt in the act of speaking" - What does this quote mean?
I saw this quote from Nietzsche in the preface of one of Harold Bloom's Shakespearean Analysis books.
It says:
"That for which we find words is something that is already dead in our
hearts. ...
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What is the meaning of "natural"?
It's a term we all know, like "time". We all know what it means but when trying to explain it the difficulties start. For example, in trying to explain time circularity enters the ...
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Help to explain the meaning of work beyond the sole purpose of making money
My brother is obsessed with money and I feel like the sole reason he works is to make money,
I think in your work you should aim for goals of higher value ie. not only should you earn money but your ...
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