Single Idea 3492

[catalogued under 18. Thought / C. Content / 1. Content]

Full Idea

Sentence meaning radically underdetermines the content of what is said.

Gist of Idea

Content is much more than just sentence meaning

Source

John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 8.II)

Book Reference

Searle,John R.: 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' [MIT 1999], p.181


A Reaction

We have body language, and we have tone, and we have context, and we have speaker's and listener's meanings. I take sentence meaning to be the basis which makes the rest possible.

Related Idea

Idea 6168 The content of a thought is just the meaning of a sentence [Rowlands]