Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
| |||
|
| |||
| Semantics: Semantics is the field of linguistics, which deals with the meaning of expressions, words, parts of words, sentences or signs. Aids for ascertaining the meaning are investigations of the use and the determination of the truth value (true or false) of the statements, which can be determined from the linguistic or action-like utterances. Therefore, semantic questions are ultimately truth questions. See also truth, reference, meaning, sense, semiology, signs, symbols, syntax, pragmatics, linguistics._____________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. | |||
| Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
|
D. Dennett on Semantics - Dictionary of Arguments
I 222 Semantics/Dennett: the first links are indeed so primitive that they can hardly be described as "semantic". But as soon as a semantic allocation system is created (by a protein fragment combining itself with a nucleotide chain which it had helped before) the whole thing speeds up! Now a section of code can encode something new. New dimension to the assessment. Proteins are classified according to their catalytic properties. I 490f Semantics/syntax/Dennett: in the case of the genes there actually is an allocation between syntactic and semantic identity: a genetic language in which the meaning is preserved in broad terms across all species. However, we must distinguish the two dimensions: In the >Library of Babel we recognize a group of syntactic variants that are all part of the Moby Dick group, but due to their semantics, not due to syntactic similarity. We recognize genes mainly due to similar phenotypic effects, for example, eyes or hemoglobin production. I 221 Semantics/syntax/life/own/Dennett: The structural stability is not related to semantic information. This is only expressed in the translation product. Nature prefers certain letters - G and C are preferred, because they are most stable as replicators, and not because they come up most frequently in the genetic "words" - the preference, which is syntactic in the beginning, combines itself with a semantic imbalance: the logic of the code scheme results from purely physical and chemical conditions! Cf. >Syntax, >Grammar, >Genes, >Code. I 222 Beginnings so primitive that it can hardly be called semantic - as soon as semantic allocation system was created, the whole thing accelerated._____________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. |
Dennett I D. Dennett Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, New York 1995 German Edition: Darwins gefährliches Erbe Hamburg 1997 Dennett II D. Dennett Kinds of Minds, New York 1996 German Edition: Spielarten des Geistes Gütersloh 1999 Dennett III Daniel Dennett "COG: Steps towards consciousness in robots" In Bewusstein, Thomas Metzinger, Paderborn/München/Wien/Zürich 1996 Dennett IV Daniel Dennett "Animal Consciousness. What Matters and Why?", in: D. C. Dennett, Brainchildren. Essays on Designing Minds, Cambridge/MA 1998, pp. 337-350 In Der Geist der Tiere, D Perler/M. Wild, Frankfurt/M. 2005 |
||
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-18