Ch. 7: Meaning & Naming

1. How do Mill and Frege disagree with Russell about grammatical sentences and meaning?
Mill and Ferge believe that the meaning of a sentence depends solely on the meaning of the words that constitute it, while Russell believe that a sentence can still be meaningless even if words in it have meaning.
2. Abel provides 8 distinguishing features of meaning. Please provide your own example for each.
-Induction: This sunshine means a beautiful day.
-Cause: What does this fighting mean?
-Effect: This means there will be no picnic.
-Intention: I meant to go to the play.
-Explanation: Te amo means I love you.
-Purpose: Violence is meaningless.
-Implication: if there’s snow, that means we have to shovel.
-Significance: does this painting have any menaing?
3. Why does Abel believe that science and metaphysics is involved in the discussion of linguistic meaning?
Abel believes this because you can only talk meaningfully about the world if you take into account what the world is really like.
4. Aristotle provided 10 categories that defined “the range of applicability of a term.”(p. 65). Please provide your own example for each.
-Substance: I am a person.
-Quantity: she is five feet tall.
-Quality: She is intelligent.
-Relation: He is the owner of the Red Sox.
-Place: He is at the stadium.
-Time: He is there during baseball season.
-Action: He is coaching.
-Passion: He is being questioned.
-Situation or position: His team surrounds him.
-Sate or condition: He is tired.
5. How does Abel differentiate between Reference and Naming?
Reference is how language bites onto the world, while naming is the direct application of a word to a thing.
6. On page 66, Abel explains the historical significance of naming. Can you think of any examples he left out? Is there any contemporary example of which Abel would not be aware?
There is the example of seas and lands being named after people from ancient Greek mythology like in Deadalis and Icarus.
7. What is the main function of naming? What doesn’t it do?
Naming is desined to be able to refer to things. Naminmg cannot describe its object.
8. What is the difference between sense and reference?
Sense is a certain level of understanding a word, while reference is what the word points to or designates.
9. How does Abel differentiate between Connotation and Denotation? What about Intension and Extension?
A connotation or intension is the definition of something, while a denotation or extension is examples of something.
10. What does Abel mean when he says: “Though meanings require words, they are not identical to words.” (p. 68)?
Abel means that meanings or descriptions take a certain definition of a word but there can still exist other definitions of that word that do not apply.
11. What is the connection between names and descriptions? Do you agree with Abel that we use ‘linguistic symbols to organize experience” (p. 69)?
When a name is a title or is associated with something the person does it can in a way describe them. I do agree with Able, I think it is the most affective way to covey experiences.
12. Why is referential opacity a problem? Be sure to mention his specific examples.
It is a problem because there are certain linguistic contexts in which you cannot substitute one name or description for another.
13. What is the problem of creating a “subsistent entity”? (p. 70)
The problem is because you say something does not exist that means you must be referring to something.
14. How does Russell differentiate between “descriptive phrases and names” (p.70)?
Descriptive phrases describe their object in someway whereas names do not.
15. What is the connection between language and Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description?
Descriptive phrases have more to do with knowledge by description, while names have to do with knowledge by acquaintance.
16. What is a word? What is an icon? What is an index?
A word is something not given to any physical object, a name is given to a physical object, and index is casually connected to the object it refers to.
17. Why is it important for philosophers to “clarify thought by clarifying language”? Why are Scientists offenders” (p. 72)?
They must do this to ensure their message is understood. Some Scientists don’t use clear denotations or extensions when defining certain phenomena.
18. What does Abel mean when he says “Just as meanings are not the same things as words, so meanings are not the same things as operations or methods or uses” (p. 73)?
Meanings cannot allow you to fully understand words, operations, methods, uses.