Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Sentence meaning: in contrast to the case of word meaning, the composition of the parts of the sentence must be taken into account for the sentence meaning. The so-called use theory of meaning does not apply to whole sentences. See also compositionality, use, use theory, truth values, context/context dependency._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Ruth Millikan on Sentence Meaning - Dictionary of Arguments
I 11 Definition sentence meaning/sense/Millikan: are the mapping functions (informally "rules") in accordance with which one would have to map it to the world if one wanted to perform its eigenfunction in accordance with a normal ((s) biological) explanation. >Terminology/Millikan. I 104 Sentence meaning/sense/sentence/Millikan: the meaning of a sentence is that it should correspond to something, not the one to which it corresponds to. >Meaning/Millikan, >Correspondence/Millikan. Sentence/word/meaning/Millikan: what is the difference between the way the combined elements of a sentence have sense and the way how "Theaitetos" has meaning? Sentence: from the fact that it is intended to correspond to something, it does not follow that there is something to which it corresponds. S: be a sentence, R: Correspondence relation. If the sentence is true, it is only that what is true of the sentence: Usually, (Ex)sRx. ((s) Normally there is a referent) On the other hand: Singular term/word/name/Millikan: from the fact that a name should normally correspond, follows however, that there is something to which it is to correspond! Should be: depends on the fact that the family of the term has a history that includes the actual correspondence with the referent. w: simple referring term r: referent. Then the following is true of w: (Ex) (Normally wRx). ((s) There is an object that normally corresponds.) R: is the correspondence relation, not the reference relation! It is the relation between w and r that is fulfilled by the fact that normally wRr - this is something quite different! >Singular term/Millikan. I 106 Reference/Millikan: the sentence meaning depends on much more fundamental types of relations than the correspondence or reference. For example, the relation of a true sentence to what it maps in the world cannot be analyzed as a reference, just as e.g. "blood pumping" cannot be analyzed as "blood pumping". ((s) > Naturalistic fallacy)._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Millikan I R. G. Millikan Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories: New Foundations for Realism Cambridge 1987 Millikan II Ruth Millikan "Varieties of Purposive Behavior", in: Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes, and Animals, R. W. Mitchell, N. S. Thomspon and H. L. Miles (Eds.) Albany 1997, pp. 189-1967 In Der Geist der Tiere, D Perler/M. Wild, Frankfurt/M. 2005 |
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> Counter arguments against Millikan
> Counter arguments in relation to Sentence Meaning
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-27