64
votes
Accepted
Since words are defined in terms of other words in dictionaries, leading to infinite loops, does it mean natural languages are meaningless?
Natural languages do not depend in any fundamental way on our learning the meanings of words from dictionaries. No child I know learns to speak, read and understand meanings by memorising dictionary ...
- 35.9k
45
votes
Accepted
Is "that nose is fake" nonsense?
You understand what the sentence means; therefore, it is not nonsense. We can perform all sorts of analyses to try to analyse why the sentence is meaningful (e.g. the "nose" refers both to ...
- 2,224
40
votes
Is a human language a prison for a mind?
One version of what you're asking is, in linguistics/cognitive science, called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. There's been a ton of writing and empirical work on this hypothesis.. My understanding (PhD ...
- 501
33
votes
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
Various candidates would be:
self-referential sentences such as
"This sentence is false."
opinion-based sentences such as
"Chocolate is the most delicious ice cream flavor."
sentences where the ...
- 2,508
27
votes
What's the solution to Sorites paradox?
The solution is to realise that the problem as posed is based on a false assumption that there is always a clear dividing line between two opposing classifications of degree. Take long and short, ...
- 24.8k
25
votes
Does the success of AI (Large Language Models) support Wittgenstein's position that "meaning is use"?
No. Wittgenstein would probably be the first to argue that the bare existence of a functioning Large Language Model does not by itself have any philosophical importance. The construction of an LLM is ...
- 2,435
22
votes
Why isn't the Liar's Paradox just accepted to be complete nonsense?
You ask:
Why isn't the Liar's Paradox just accepted to be complete nonsense?
You want an answer in "plain English." The easy explanation is that "complete nonsense" intuitively ...
- 31.8k
20
votes
What is to be understood by the phrase "Israel's right to exist"?
It's referring to the state, not the land or the people, so your example of a pear isn't really applicable. The preamble of the 1988 charter of Hamas (aka "the Islamic Resistance Movement") declares ...
- 301
19
votes
Why is "Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" considered meaningless?
There's a subtle distinction here between truth-value and semantic-value, one that harkens back to the Russell/Frege debate about 'denotation' and 'sense'. In short, truth-value deals with (bare) ...
- 22k
18
votes
Is a false dichotomy still a dichotomy?
Your central claim seems to be that an [adjective] x is always an x. However, consider the following examples...
An exploded bomb
A melted snowflake
A fake diamond
A wannabee popstar
A cancelled ...
- 24.8k
18
votes
Can LLMs have intention?
No, an LLM itself is a statistical model stored as a artificial neural network about linguistics in a training set. It has no activity, nor intentions. It has no perception of the world or time, no ...
- 5,738
17
votes
Is a human language a prison for a mind?
You're giving too much power to language as a way of structuring lived experience. While there may be some support for a weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, minds are more flexible than ...
- 271
16
votes
Accepted
what is the truth value of a sarcastic statement?
Sarcasm is one of the troublesome linguistic phenomena living in a contested no man's land between semantics (the study of language-internal meaning) and pragmatics (the study of meaning in context). ...
- 7,447
16
votes
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
The OP asks the following:
Can I write or utter any sentence which is neither false nor true?
Yes. An example would be Tomorrow I will rise at precisely 6 am. That sentence today is neither true nor ...
- 19.6k
16
votes
Accepted
Is Analytic Philosophy really just Language Philosophy
That quote is from Michael Dummett's book, Origins of Analytical Philosophy. A short answer is that according to Dummett, we cannot have a philosophy of anything until we have a clear theory of ...
- 29k
16
votes
Is it feasible to alter "well-established" languages?
Example of successful changes to language:
The king of Korea famously introduced a writing system for Korea with great success. It took a king to impose this new writing system, and was successful ...
- 999
16
votes
Does a sentence exist if it is not written, spoken, or even thought of?
In math and logic structures can be said to "exist" even if the current universe may not hold an instance of them. Like "for every prime number there exists a larger prime number". ...
- 5,738
15
votes
Why would this not resolve the Sorites paradox?
Your proposed solution does not solve the paradox.
The whole point of the paradox is that the term 'pile' is vague. That is, given an object (e.g. a collection of grains of sand) it is indeterminate ...
- 6,616
15
votes
Is the statement "They like curry chicken." an objective or subjective statement?
An objective statement is a statement about "the thing in itself", with reality as is rather than as perceived. The statement "my computer runs Mac OS" is objective.
I start there ...
- 1,920
13
votes
Since words are defined in terms of other words in dictionaries, leading to infinite loops, does it mean natural languages are meaningless?
The fact that a dictionary defines each word as a loop that includes other words doesn't mean there is no information present in the dictionary. The information about all the words together is encoded ...
- 255
13
votes
Accepted
Can religions die out specifically lose followers and consequently stop existing? (ontologically speaking)
From an analytical position, the question itself is somewhat inadequate.
First, religions aren't alive, so saying they die would be literally nonsensical. From a metaphorical position, we could easily ...
- 31.8k
12
votes
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
Is every sentence we write or utter either true or false?
NO. A sentence is "a textual unit consisting of one or more words that are grammatically linked. [... The] words [are] grouped meaningfully ...
- 38.4k
12
votes
Can we know that something exists even if we can't explain or define it?
Gravity is a great example to illustrate that yes, we can be certain a thing exists without having the ability to adequately explain or define it. As with the case of gravity, we can observe it and ...
- 497
12
votes
Can definitions in the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language be considered definitive in informal philosophical presentations?
A dictionary is not an authoritative text on the meaning of words; it's a guidebook for common usage. In philosophical discussions meaning is subject to contestation, and it is up to the speaker to ...
- 22k
12
votes
Accepted
Does the success of AI (Large Language Models) support Wittgenstein's position that "meaning is use"?
Yes, indeed: According to the post-Tractatus Wittgenstein, words are "meaning families"; the specific "meaning" of a word is determined by (or perhaps is) its use in context. ...
- 2,673
11
votes
Accepted
Is mathematics a language?
It is more than that. Even if we take the Galileo's metaphor literally, he is suggesting that there is a language of mathematics, specifically geometry, not that mathematics, as such, is a language:
...
- 43.8k
11
votes
What is to be understood by the phrase "Israel's right to exist"?
The reason Israel demands that the Palestinians recognize Israel's so-called "right to exist" is that in so doing, they would officially relinquish any and all claims they have on the land they owned ...
- 9,117
11
votes
Is the dichotomy between natural and unnatural defensible?
Natural is one of those words that fit the description of what John Austin called trouser-words in his book Sense and Sensibilia. Sometimes you can only understand a word by reference to what it is ...
- 29k
11
votes
What's the solution to Sorites paradox?
One solution would be to say that even 1 grain is a heap. That would be defining "heap" more precisely than its informal, intuitive meaning. What does "heap" precisely mean anyway? ...
- 2,481
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