Words and Meaning
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:04 pm~
Words don't "have meaning." People mean things by them.
I'm sorry, but that's just the way things are. And to guess what they mean, you have to know what the words they use commonly mean in their own linguistic community. There's no way around that.
It's not relativism, and it's not Humpty Dumpty. It requires imagination ("what could this person have meant?") and good faith, and familiarity with the linguistic community, if it's not your own.
Words outside of a linguistic community are just squiggles on a page or grunts in a throat. They don't mean a damn thing.
Words don't "have meaning." People mean things by them.
I'm sorry, but that's just the way things are. And to guess what they mean, you have to know what the words they use commonly mean in their own linguistic community. There's no way around that.
It's not relativism, and it's not Humpty Dumpty. It requires imagination ("what could this person have meant?") and good faith, and familiarity with the linguistic community, if it's not your own.
Words outside of a linguistic community are just squiggles on a page or grunts in a throat. They don't mean a damn thing.