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Full Idea
The distinction between what belongs to the meaning of a word and what counts as further information is scarcely clearer than the distinction between the essence of a thing and its accidents.
Gist of Idea
The distinction between meaning and further information is as vague as the essence/accident distinction
Source
Willard Quine (Vagaries of Definition [1972], p.51)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.51
A Reaction
In lots of cases the distinction between essence and accident strikes me as totally clear. Tricky borderline cases don't destroy a distinction. That bachelors are married is clearly not 'further information'.
| 8202 | Meaning is essence divorced from things and wedded to words [Quine] |
| 8201 | The distinction between meaning and further information is as vague as the essence/accident distinction [Quine] |
| 8203 | All the arithmetical entities can be reduced to classes of integers, and hence to sets [Quine] |