Single Idea 12592

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 5. Concepts and Language / a. Concepts and language]

Full Idea

Concepts and other aspects of mental representation have content but not (normally) meaning (unless they are also expressions in a language used in communication).

Gist of Idea

Concepts in thought have content, but not meaning, which requires communication

Source

Gilbert Harman ((Nonsolipsistic) Conceptual Role Semantics [1987], 12.1.2)

Book Reference

Harman,Gilbert: 'Reasoning Meaning and Mind' [OUP 1999], p.208


A Reaction

Given his account of meaning as involving some complex 'role', he has to say this, though it seems a dubious distinction, going against the grain of a normal request to ask what some concept 'means'. What is 'democracy'?