Single Idea 4562

[catalogued under 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 6. Meaning as Use]

Full Idea

Most people know how to use the word "Amen", but they do not know what it means.

Gist of Idea

Most people know how to use the word "Amen", but they do not know what it means

Source

David E. Cooper (Philosophy and the Nature of Language [1973], §2.4)

Book Reference

Cooper,David E.: 'Philosophy and the Nature of Language' [Longman 1979], p.39


A Reaction

Personally I find examples like this decisive against the 'use' theory of meaning. Maybe the defence is that the theory works for sentences, and individual words (like passwords) are peripheral.