more from John Locke

Single Idea 7308

[catalogued under 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 2. Meaning as Mental]

Full Idea

Words in their primary or immediate signification, stand for nothing, but the ideas in the mind of him that uses them.

Gist of Idea

Words stand for the ideas in the mind of him that uses them

Source

John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 3.02.02)

Book Reference

Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.405


A Reaction

This is notorious and usually dismissed contemptuously. However, if the ideas themselves 'stand for' reality, our words are not just trapped in mental space. If my mental space contains things, presumably we can name them.