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Single Idea 12593

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

Full Idea

A use theory of meaning has to suppose it is words and ways of putting words together that have meaning because of their uses, not sentences.

Gist of Idea

The use theory attaches meanings to words, not to sentences

Source

Gilbert Harman ((Nonsolipsistic) Conceptual Role Semantics [1987], 12.1.3)

Book Ref

Harman,Gilbert: 'Reasoning Meaning and Mind' [OUP 1999], p.3

A Reaction

He says that most sentences are unique, so cannot have a standard use. Words do a particular job over and over again. How do you distinguish the quirky use of a word from its standard use?

The 16 ideas from '(Nonsolipsistic) Conceptual Role Semantics'

12588 Meaning from use of thoughts, constructed from concepts, which have a role relating to reality [Harman]
12589 Some regard conceptual role semantics as an entirely internal matter [Harman]
12590 Take meaning to be use in calculation with concepts, rather than in communication [Harman]
12591 Mastery of a language requires thinking, and not just communication [Harman]
12592 Concepts in thought have content, but not meaning, which requires communication [Harman]
12593 The use theory attaches meanings to words, not to sentences [Harman]
12594 If one proposition negates the other, which is the negative one? [Harman]
12596 Reasoning aims at increasing explanatory coherence [Harman]
12595 We have a theory of logic (implication and inconsistency), but not of inference or reasoning [Harman]
12597 I might accept P and Q as likely, but reject P-and-Q as unlikely [Harman]
12598 Reality is the overlap of true complete theories [Harman]
12599 Reason conservatively: stick to your beliefs, and prefer reasoning that preserves most of them [Harman]
12601 The way things look is a relational matter, not an intrinsic matter [Harman]
12600 The content of thought is relations, between mental states, things in the world, and contexts [Harman]
12602 There is no natural border between inner and outer [Harman]
12603 We can only describe mental attitudes in relation to the external world [Harman]