On Epistemic Conceptions of Meaning: Use, Meaning and Normativity


Συγγραφέας: Daniel Whiting


Daniel Whiting: On Epistemic Conceptions of Meaning: Use, Meaning and Normativity (pdf, 32 pages)
A number of prominent philosophers advance the following ideas: (1) Meaning is use. (2) Meaning is an intrinsically normative notion. Call (1) the use thesis, hereafter UT, and (2) the normativity thesis, hereafter NT. They come together in the view that for a linguistic expression to have meaning is for there to be certain proprieties governing its employment.1 These ideas are often associated with a third: