Directival Theory of Meaning Resurrected

Studia Semiotyczne—English Supplement 29 (1):62-81 (2017)
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Abstract

The first aim of this paper is to remind the reader of a very original theory of meaning which in many aspects has not been surpassed by subsequent theories. The theory in question is Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz’s Directival Theory of Meaning. In the first section I present a version of this theory which, I trust, retains the gist of the original but loses its outdated language. In the second section I analyze some problematic consequences of the directival theory and show how they can be addressed. The second aim of this paper is exploiting some of the similarities between the directival theory and later theories of meaning. In the third section I argue that using the directival theory as an interpretative tool enables us to create explications of some of the notoriously vague notions which contemporary theories of meaning employ.

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Pawel Grabarczyk
University of Lodz

Citations of this work

Indexicality, meaning, use.Tadeusz Ciecierski - 2021 - Semiotica 2021 (238):73-89.
Can memes explain the birth of comprehension?Paweł Grabarczyk - 2019 - Avant: Trends in Interdisciplinary Studies 10 (3).
Comment on “Can memes explain the birth of comprehension?”.Daniel Dennett - 2020 - Avant: Trends in Interdisciplinary Studies 11 (2).

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References found in this work

Philosophical Investigations.Ludwig Wittgenstein - 1953 - New York, NY, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. Edited by G. E. M. Anscombe.
Word and Object.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1960 - Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Ontological relativity and other essays.Willard Van Orman Quine (ed.) - 1969 - New York: Columbia University Press.
The meaning of 'meaning'.Hilary Putnam - 1975 - Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science 7:131-193.
Science, Perception and Reality.Wilfrid Sellars (ed.) - 1963 - New York,: Humanities Press.

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