Where's the Use in Meaning?

Citation

Millar A (1985) Where's the Use in Meaning?. Dialectica, 39 (1), pp. 35-51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-8361.1985.tb01594.x

Abstract
The article presents a critique of Quine's criticism of mentalism in semantics. Quine is right to demand that theories of meaning show how the meanings of linguistic expressions are grounded in verbal dispositions. His own account of verbal dispositions is inadequate to the task. It is argued that the dispositions in which meanings are grounded are (i) dispositions to accept and reject sentences, (ii) essentially involve beliefs, (iii) link sentences with one another, as well as with experience, and (iv) are conventional. The importance of the distinction between disposition-based relations between sentences and logical relations between sentences is stressed.

Keywords
logic; meaning; mentalism; Quine; verbal dispositions

Journal
Dialectica: Volume 39, Issue 1

People

Professor Alan Millar

Emeritus Professor, Philosophy