PPT-The Idea Theory of Meaning

Outline Metasemantics The Conformal Theory The Idea Theory Problems for the Idea Theory Summary 1 metasemantics The Meaningless World Most things in the world dont have meanings Rivers and lakes and trees and rocks and planets and black holes and electrons none of these things have meanings . The Conformal Theory. Aristotle. Lived in Greece . 384-322 BCE. Student of Plato at the Academy. Taught Alexander the Great. Started his own school, the Lyceum. Towering figure in Western philosophy and Christianity. Classical Empiricism. Last time we learned about the idea theory. Although it wasn’t confined to the empiricists, most of them ascribed to it (Locke, Berkeley, and Hume being the most notable).. Empiricism was variously the doctrine that all ideas “came from” experience, or that all knowledge did, or both. (Usually both.). Classical Empiricism. Last time we learned about the idea theory. . Although . it wasn’t confined to the empiricists, most of them ascribed to it (Locke, Berkeley, and Hume being the most notable).. Use theory: history & motivation. The Causal-Historical Theory. Last time we learned about the causal-historical theory of reference. . The Causal-Historical Theory. Let’s call that baby ‘Feynman’. Wilhelm von . Humbolt. famously described language as a system that “makes infinite use of finite means.”. Infinite Noun Phrases. There are infinitely many noun phrases: you can always make another one by adding another adjective:. THEORIES. , . THEORISTS. , AND IMPORTANT TERMS. By: K. Yegoryan. Critical Theory. Greek {. kritikos. } = judgment – 18. th. cent. In Literary studies . Is a form of “hermeneutics”- the knowledge via interpretation to understand the meaning of human texts and symbolic expressions. Use theory: history & motivation. The Causal-Historical Theory. Last time we learned about the causal-historical theory of reference. According to Kripke’s model, names and natural kind terms have their referenced initially fixed by . Review from last time. Metasemantics. Theories of Meaning. The Conformal Theory. The Idea Theory. The Resemblance Theory. Berkeley. General terms/. Abstract ideas. Locke on General Terms. “. It is not enough for the perfection of language, that sounds can be made signs of ideas, unless those signs can be so made use of as to comprehend several particular . And the Origin of the Universe. 3. 3. The Big Bang—Observation or Speculation?. Scientific Process. Get an idea. Perform. experiments. Create theory. Scientific Process. Get an idea. Perform. experiments. Wilhelm von . Humbolt. famously described language as a system that “makes infinite use of finite means.”. Infinite Noun Phrases. There are infinitely many noun phrases: you can always make another one by adding another adjective:. Pg. 718. In “walking cities”, people had to live as closely together as possible. Infectious diseases were far deadlier than in rural areas. Urban centers had negative birth to death ratios. The only way to maintain populations was through migration. This phrase refers to the Trojan horse. The Greeks, who were at war with the Trojans, needed a way to get into the walls of Troy. They constructed a large wooden horse and offered it as a gift or peace offering to the city of Troy. Once the horse was brought inside the city, the Greek warriors who were . Outline. Metasemantics. The Conformal Theory. The Idea . Theory. Primary and Secondary Qualities. General Terms/ Abstract Ideas. The Tribunal of Experience. Summary. 1. metasemantics. The Meaningless World. Alan Dennis. ardennis@indiana.edu. November, 2011. Agenda. What is Theory. What is . Interesting. Theory. Variance Theory versus Process Theory. A Process for Theory Construction. Testing and Generalizing Theory.