Holism, communication, and the emergence of public meaning: Lessons from an economic analogy

Philosophia 37 (1):133-147 (2009)
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Abstract

Holistic accounts of meaning normally incorporate a subjective dimension that invites the criticism that they make communication impossible, for speakers are bound to differ in ways the accounts take to be relevant to meaning, and holism generalises any difference over some words to a difference about all, and this seems incompatible with the idea that successful communication requires mutual understanding. I defend holism about meaning from this criticism. I argue that the same combination of properties (subjective origins of value, holism among values, and ultimate publicity of value) is exhibited by monetary value and take the emergence of equilibrium prices as a model for the emergence of public meanings.

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Andrew Jorgensen
Temple University (PhD)

Citations of this work

Social externalism and the problem of communication.Joey Pollock - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (12):3229-3251.
Holism, conceptual role, and conceptual similarity.Joey Pollock - 2020 - Philosophical Psychology 33 (3):396-420.

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References found in this work

Two Dogmas of Empiricism.W. Quine - 1951 - [Longmans, Green].
Inquiries Into Truth And Interpretation.Donald Davidson - 1984 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Two Dogmas of Empiricism.Willard V. O. Quine - 1951 - Philosophical Review 60 (1):20–43.
Literal Meaning.François Récanati - 2002 - New York: Cambridge University Press.

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