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Single Idea 19270

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

Full Idea

What can there be in my mind that I make use of when I follow a general rule to add in the future? It seems that the entire idea of meaning vanishes into thin air.

Gist of Idea

If you ask what is in your mind for following the addition rule, meaning just seems to vanish

Source

Saul A. Kripke (Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language [1982], 2)

Book Ref

Kripke,Saul: 'Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language' [Blackwell 1993], p.22

A Reaction

Introspection probably isn't the best way to investigate the phenomenon of meaning. Indeed it seems rather old-fashioned and Cartesian. Kripke says, though, that seeking 'tacit' rules is even worse [end of note 22].

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]