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Single Idea 21930
[filed under theme 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 1. Meaning
]
Full Idea
A noun [for Aristotle] is proper when it has but a single sense. Better, it is only in this case that it is properly a noun. Univocity is the essence, or better, the telos of language.
Clarification
'Univocity' is having only a single meaning
Gist of Idea
For Aristotle all proper nouns must have a single sense, which is the purpose of language
Source
Jacques Derrida (works [1990]), quoted by Simon Glendinning - Derrida: A Very Short Introduction 5
Book Ref
Glendinning,Simon: 'Derrida: a Very Short Intro' [OUP 2011], p.55
A Reaction
[no ref given] His target seem to be Aristotelian definition, and also formal logic, which usually needs unambiguous meanings. {I'm puzzled that he thinks 'telos' is simply better than 'essence', since it is quite different].
The
38 ideas
from Jacques Derrida
21932
|
'Différance' is the interwoven history of each sign
[Derrida, by Glendinning]
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8210
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Deconstructing philosophy gives the history of concepts, and the repressions behind them
[Derrida]
|
8211
|
The movement of 'différance' is the root of all the oppositional concepts in our language
[Derrida]
|
6840
|
Derrida came to believe in the undeconstructability of justice, which cannot be relativised
[Derrida, by Critchley]
|
21936
|
A community must consist of singular persons, with nothing in common
[Derrida, by Glendinning]
|
21937
|
Can there be democratic friendship without us all becoming identical?
[Derrida, by Glendinning]
|
21929
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Derrida focuses on ambiguity, but talks of 'dissemination', not traditional multiple meanings
[Derrida]
|
8213
|
I try to analyse certain verbal concepts which block and confuse the dialectical process
[Derrida]
|
8216
|
Deconstruction is not neutral; it intervenes
[Derrida]
|
8212
|
Everything that is experienced in consciousness is meaning
[Derrida]
|
21934
|
The idea of being as persistent presence, and meaning as conscious intelligibility, are self-destructive
[Derrida, by Glendinning]
|
21881
|
We aim to explore the limits of expression (as in Mallarmé's poetry)
[Derrida]
|
21883
|
Sincerity can't be verified, so fiction infuses speech, and hence reality also
[Derrida]
|
4756
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Derrida says that all truth-talk is merely metaphor
[Derrida, by Engel]
|
21877
|
True thoughts are inaccessible, in the subconscious, prior to speech or writing
[Derrida]
|
21889
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'I' is the perfect name, because it denotes without description
[Derrida]
|
21878
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Names have a subjective aspect, especially the role of our own name
[Derrida]
|
21879
|
Even Kripke can't explain names; the word is the thing, and the thing is the word
[Derrida]
|
21931
|
'Dissemination' is opposed to polysemia, since that is irreducible, because of multiple understandings
[Derrida, by Glendinning]
|
21891
|
The good is implicitly violent (against evil), so there is no pure good
[Derrida]
|
21880
|
'Tacit theory' controls our thinking (which is why Freud is important)
[Derrida]
|
21885
|
Words exist in 'spacing', so meanings are never synchronic except in writing
[Derrida]
|
21890
|
Heidegger showed that passing time is the key to consciousness
[Derrida]
|
21886
|
Meanings depend on differences and contrasts
[Derrida]
|
21930
|
For Aristotle all proper nouns must have a single sense, which is the purpose of language
[Derrida]
|
21884
|
Capacity for repetitions is the hallmark of language
[Derrida]
|
21935
|
The sign is only conceivable as a movement between elusive presences
[Derrida]
|
21933
|
Writing functions even if the sender or the receiver are absent
[Derrida, by Glendinning]
|
21894
|
Madness and instability ('the demonic hyperbole') lurks in all language
[Derrida]
|
21887
|
Derrida focuses on other philosophers, rather than on science
[Derrida]
|
21888
|
Philosophy is just a linguistic display
[Derrida]
|
21896
|
Philosophy aims to build foundations for thought
[Derrida, by May]
|
21893
|
Philosophy is necessarily metaphorical, and its writing is aesthetic
[Derrida]
|
21882
|
Sentences are contradictory, as they have opposite meanings in some contexts
[Derrida]
|
21892
|
Interpretations can be interpreted, so there is no original 'meaning' available
[Derrida]
|
20925
|
Hermeneutics blunts truth, by conforming it to the interpreter
[Derrida, by Zimmermann,J]
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20934
|
Hermeneutics is hostile, trying to overcome the other person's difference
[Derrida, by Zimmermann,J]
|
21895
|
Structuralism destroys awareness of dynamic meaning
[Derrida]
|