more from this thinker
|
more from this text
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]
|