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Single Idea 1609

[filed under theme 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 10. Denial of Meanings ]

Full Idea

Some philosophers construe meaningfulness as the having (in some sense of 'having') of some abstract entity which he calls a meaning, whereas I do not.

Gist of Idea

I do not believe there is some abstract entity called a 'meaning' which we can 'have'

Source

Willard Quine (On What There Is [1948], p.11)

Book Ref

Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.11

A Reaction

To call a meaning an 'entity' is to put a spin on it that makes it very implausible. Introspection shows us a gap between grasping a word and grasping its meaning.

The 14 ideas with the same theme [doubts about the whole idea of meaning]:

7279 If words can't be defined, they may just be the chirruping of chicks [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
4721 If you are not certain of any fact, you cannot be certain of the meaning of your words either [Wittgenstein]
4149 We don't have 'meanings' in our minds in addition to verbal expressions [Wittgenstein]
4156 Make the following experiment: say "It's cold here" and mean "It's warm here" [Wittgenstein]
1617 The word 'meaning' is only useful when talking about significance or about synonymy [Quine]
1609 I do not believe there is some abstract entity called a 'meaning' which we can 'have' [Quine]
9471 Intensions are creatures of darkness which should be exorcised [Quine]
1621 Once meaning and reference are separated, meaning ceases to seem important [Quine]
8202 Meaning is essence divorced from things and wedded to words [Quine]
19064 Holism is not a theory of meaning; it is the denial that a theory of meaning is possible [Dummett]
21885 Words exist in 'spacing', so meanings are never synchronic except in writing [Derrida]
7305 Kripke's Wittgenstein says meaning 'vanishes into thin air' [Kripke, by Miller,A]
19270 If you ask what is in your mind for following the addition rule, meaning just seems to vanish [Kripke]
8477 People presume meanings exist because they confuse meaning and reference [Orenstein]