Single Idea 18275

[catalogued under 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 6. Judgement / a. Nature of Judgement]

Full Idea

When I judge 'Socrates is human', the meaning is completed by the act of judging, and we no longer have an incomplete symbol.

Gist of Idea

Only the act of judging completes the meaning of a statement

Source

B Russell/AN Whitehead (Principia Mathematica [1913], p.44), quoted by J. Alberto Coffa - The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap

Book Reference

Coffa,J.Alberto: 'The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap' [CUP 1993], p.145


A Reaction

Personally I would have thought that you needed to know the meaning properly before you could make the judgement, but then he is Bertrand Russell and I'm not.