Showing posts with label meaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meaning. Show all posts

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Meaning and Meaning

 The conflation of the concepts of "reason" as an explanation and "reason" as a purpose has done much mischief in philosophy. Similarly with "meaning" as an interpretation and "meaning" as a purpose or intent.

If I am a hunter tracking prey, its spoor has meaning to me. I can interpret it, adding something to my store of knowledge that will help me track its path. But nothing purposed for that meaning to exist. If I speak to you meaningfully, though, there is a meaning that is purposed (mine) and a meaning that is only interpreted (yours). In this case, your interpretation hopefully adds something to your store of knowledge that will help you track my intention (purpose).