Single Idea 16879

[catalogued under 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 6. Meaning as Use]

Full Idea

No sense accrues to a sign by the mere fact that it is used in one or more sentences, the other constituents of which are known.

Gist of Idea

A sign won't gain sense just from being used in sentences with familiar components

Source

Gottlob Frege (Logic in Mathematics [1914], p.213)

Book Reference

Frege,Gottlob: 'Posthumous Writings', ed/tr. Hermes/Long/White etc [Blackwell 1979], p.213


A Reaction

Music to my ears. I've never grasped how meaning could be grasped entirely through use.