The Meaning Of Meaning

A new edition of a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of language, substantially updated and reorganized. The philosophy of language aims to answer a broad range of questions about the nature of language, including “what is a language?” and “what is the source of meaning?” This accessible comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of language begins with the most basic properties of language and only then proceeds to the phenomenon of meaning. The second edition has been significantly expanded and reorganized, putting the original content in a contemporary context and offering substantial new material, with extended discussions and entirely new chapters. After establishing the basics, the book discusses general criteria for an adequate theory of meaning, takes a first pass at describing meaning at an abstract level, and distinguishes between meaning and other related phenomena. Building on this, the book then addresses various specific theories of meaning, beginning with early foundational theories and proceeding to more contemporary ones. New to this edition are expanded discussions of Chomsky's work and compositional semantics, among other topics, and new chapters on such subjects as propositions, Montague grammar, and contemporary theories of language. Each chapter has technical terms in bold, followed by definitions, and offers a list of main points and suggested further readings. The book is suitable for use in undergraduate courses in philosophy and linguistics. Some background in philosophy is assumed, but knowledge of philosophy of language is not necessary.

The pioneering and still essential text on semantics, urging readers to improve human communication and understanding with precise, concrete language. In 1938, Stuart Chase revolutionized the study of semantics with his classic text, The Tyranny of Words. Decades later, this eminently useful analysis of the way we use words continues to resonate. A contemporary of the economist Thorstein Veblen and the author Upton Sinclair, Chase was a social theorist and writer who despised the imprecision of contemporary communication. Wide-ranging and erudite, this iconic volume was one of the first to condemn the overuse of abstract words and to exhort language users to employ words that make their ideas accurate, complete, and readily understood. “[A] thoroughly scholarly study of the science of the meaning of words.” —Kirkus Reviews “When thinking about words, I think about Stuart Chase’s The Tyranny of Words. It is one of those books that never lose its message.” —CounterPunch

Language is the most important of all the instruments of civilization. This is the premise of a work whose significance to the study of language, literature, and philosophy has remained undiminished since its original publication in 1923. New Introduction by Umberto Eco; Indices.

The aim of this book is a recovery of interest in the experience of meaning. Jan Zwicky defends the claim that we experience meaning in the apprehension of wholes and their internal structural relations, providing examples of such insight in mathematics and physics, literature, music, and Plato's ancient theory of forms. Taken together, these essays constitute a powerful indictment of the aggressive reductionism and the reliance on calculative modes of thought that dominate our present conception of understanding. The Experience of Meaning proposes a more just epistemology, arguing for a new grammar of thought, a new way of understanding the relationship of human intelligence to the world. Engaging with philosophy, psychology, literature, fine arts, music, and environmental studies in a profound way, The Experience of Meaning will interest any reader who ponders the question of meaning and its relation to true human expression.

In "What is Meaning" (1903) the author elaborates on the fundamental tenets of her theory of sign, to which she give the overall term significs . One of the main obstacles to an adequate theory of meaning, in Lady Welby s opinion, is the unfounded assumption of fixed sign meaning. "There is, strictly speaking, no such thing as the Sense of a word, but only the sense in which it is used the circumstances, state of mind, reference, universe of discourse belonging to it. The Meaning of a word is the intent which it is desired to convey the intention of the user. The Significance is always manifold, and intensifies its sense as well as its meaning, by expressing its importance, its appeal to us, its moment for us, its emotional force, its ideal value, its moral aspect, its universal or at least social range." This facsimile of the 1903 edition of "What is Meaning" is accompanied by an essay on "Significs as a Fundamental Science" by Achim Eschbach, and "A Concise History of Significs" by G. Mannoury.

"This book includes a comprehensive investigation of the concept of meaning, focusing on its structure, function, and materials. In terms of structure, it is proposed that meaning is a unit which consists of two components: the carrier of meaning, called referent, to which meaning is assigned, and the meaning assigned to the referent, called meaning value. In terms of function, meaning is designed to identify inputs from outside and inside the organism, so as to enable responding to them in forms adequate for the psychological system. Otherwise expressed, meaning turns stimuli into potential triggers of reactions on all psychological levels. In terms of materials, meaning consists of cognitions, which are neither expected to be logical or rational nor are necessarily subjected to awareness, voluntary control or verbal expression. So, in practice, meaning consists of cognitive units, which are characterized in terms of referents and meaning values, forming sequences and networks, providing identification of stimuli and potentialities for grasping reality, reacting to it and transforming it. This book is a culmination of the author's decades of academic experience in pursuit of an understanding of meaning. In this book's thirteen chapters, meaning is explored through a variety of perspectives, including those drawn from evolutionary psychology, linguistics, cognition, personality, and other fields. Also, exercises are included that provide tasks designed to allow readers to familiarize themselves with the system of meaning elucidated in the book"--

Current textbooks in formal semantics are all versions of, or introductions to, the same paradigm in semantic theory: Montague Grammar. Knowledge of Meaning is based on different assumptions and a different history. It provides the only introduction to truth- theoretic semantics for natural languages, fully integrating semantic theory into the modern Chomskyan program in linguistic theory and connecting linguistic semantics to research elsewhere in cognitive psychology and philosophy. As such, it better fits into a modern graduate or undergraduate program in linguistics, cognitive science, or philosophy. Furthermore, since the technical tools it employs are much simpler to teach and to master, Knowledge of Meaning can be taught by someone who is not primarily a semanticist. Linguistic semantics cannot be studied as a stand-alone subject but only as part of cognitive psychology, the authors assert. It is the study of a particular human cognitive competence governing the meanings of words and phrases. Larson and Segal argue that speakers have unconscious knowledge of the semantic rules of their language, and they present concrete, empirically motivated proposals about a formal theory of this competence based on the work of Alfred Tarski and Donald Davidson. The theory is extended to a wide range of constructions occurring in natural language, including predicates, proper nouns, pronouns and demonstratives, quantifiers, definite descriptions, anaphoric expressions, clausal complements, and adverbs. Knowledge of Meaning gives equal weight to philosophical, empirical, and formal discussions. It addresses not only the empirical issues of linguistic semantics but also its fundamental conceptual questions, including the relation of truth to meaning and the methodology of semantic theorizing. Numerous exercises are included in the book.