Meaning : the move from minds to practices

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorSloss, Jayen
dc.date.accessioned2008-09-07T21:12:33Z
dc.date.available2008-09-07T21:12:33Z
dc.date.issued2007en
dc.description.abstractFor centuries referential theories of language and meaning have dominated Western philosophy. The idea that noises and scratches become meaningful words and writing by virtue of a mental grasp one has on the referents they are talking about has become deeply entrenched. Starting with Plato, and reinvented by Locke, contemporary theorists continue to reproduce this mental fix requirement (MFR) in their philosophies of language and intentionality-Physicalists, such as Paul and Patricia Churchland are typical. Plato, Locke and the Churchlands all share the view that bits of language reach out to extra-linguistic entities by some act of mind (for Plato the mind grasped referents via the Forms, for Locke Ideas bridged the relation, and the Churchland's, brain states). In each case a self-referential mental act gets language up and running, i.e. mental connections (or representations) to referents do the trick. My question also concerns what makes squiggles and noises meaningful. The question is a nested one-ancillary to it are questions of what makes language work? How do words mean or relate to the world? How do speakers mean certain things and not others? I will approach the question from a contextualist perspective where roles in rule-governed activities are the bottom line, not representations in the mind/brain.en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/984
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.26021/3614
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Canterbury. Philosophy and Religious Studiesen
dc.relation.isreferencedbyNZCUen
dc.rightsCopyright Jay Slossen
dc.rights.urihttps://canterbury.libguides.com/rights/thesesen
dc.subjectLanguageen
dc.subjectmeaningen
dc.subjectminden
dc.subjectrepresentationen
dc.subjectsituated cognitionen
dc.subjectcontexten
dc.subjectintentionalityen
dc.subjectcolouren
dc.subjectmethodologyen
dc.subjectgrammaren
dc.subjectbeingen
dc.subjectPlatoen
dc.subjectLockeen
dc.subjectChurchlanden
dc.subjectJ. L Austinen
dc.subjectWittgensteinen
dc.subjectHeideggeren
dc.titleMeaning : the move from minds to practicesen
dc.typeTheses / Dissertations
thesis.degree.disciplinePhilosophyen
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Canterburyen
thesis.degree.levelMastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen
uc.bibnumber1068421en
uc.collegeFaculty of Artsen
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_fulltext.pdf
Size:
754.75 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
Collections
Arts: Theses and Dissertations