creativesoul

My last two responses to you were based upon what I've taken to be 'fundamental'(for lack of a better word) tenets of the position you're arguing for/...

Common denominators are shared and undivided. The world is shared and undivided. All mammals share mammary glands. Commonalites are shared and undivid...

We are not our thought/belief. Are you really attempting to deny that we think about our own thought/belief?

You've offered several different kinds of meaning. What do they all have in common such that that commonality is what makes them all a kind of meaning...

Aristotle did not draw and maintain the crucial distinction between thought/belief and thinking about thought/belief.

Could you set it out, this system you speak of?

Seems unnecessarily complex and inherently inadequate all at the same time. Doesn't pure understanding consist of thinking about our own thought/belie...

Could you put the first point above in statement form? Emotional expressions are not equivalent to meaning on my view, so I'm having a bit of trouble ...

So, he didn't?

Let me clarify a bit. The meaning of the word "tree" is determined exclusively by the entire correlational process that it is an integral part of. We ...

Next.

Morality... Everyone has one. The nuance will vary accordingly.

Til next time... Cheers!

It's a hot mess... :wink:

Well, Noah I'm not sure how long you've been interested in philosophy, but this particular topic is not at all one that is simple to understand. Acade...

A language-less creature can learn that touching fire causes pain, by virtue of touching it, feeling the resulting pain and drawing a correlation betw...

Correlations drawn between different things by a language less creature. Correlations drawn between different things by a language user, but not under...

We use the term "tree" to talk about trees. When a plurality of people draw a correlation, association, and or connection between the term and trees, ...

Nope. Not like that. There are plenty of situations where "shared meaning" could be replaced with "meaning". The questions about meaning that has not ...

Meaning is neither external nor internal. It consists of both. It is existentially dependent upon both. What is being shared, can be, as a result of t...

That is what the meaning of "tree" amounts to, although the 'in the mind' part is unacceptable on my view. It presupposes spatiotemporal location. Mea...

Well you said that meaning is what words refer to. "Tree" is a word. It does not refer to meaning. It refers to trees. The last reply of yours is head...

Interesting... He did? Have a link?

Trees are meaning?

Yes. We discover the meaning by knowing what correlations are being made between the language use and other things. Both builder and assistant draw co...

Is "tree" a word?

Indeed. This highlights whether or not we actually do share meaning, or at least questions the exactitude of doing so, or if there can even be such a ...

The term "tree" does not refer to meaning.

Very good. Point well made, and quite relevant to the OP. The only thing that seems problematic to me is talking in terms of "receiving meaning". Mean...

Hmmmm... It would seem to me that there are at least some values that cannot be conceived and/or agreed upon without meaning. If shared meaning requir...

Are you disagreeing that meaning is shared?

Can we unpack this a little bit more? While I would not disagree at all that there are times and situations where sharing meaning creates a bridge of ...

You've named some different kinds of meaning. Would you elaborate a bit upon universal and unknown meaning?

Are those the only three options?

Yes. Language can be used for many things, and saying "Block!" is to use language as a means for acquiring something. I think it safe to say that if t...

Bald assertions do not garner much warrant when they conflict with sound argument/reasoning.

Language use is existentially dependent upon shared meaning.

My position adequately accounts for both.

Like one's thought/belief about the world and/or one's self.

Whenever it is not part of a correlation drawn between it and something other than it.

I'm unsure what to do to help.

I'm referring to the fact that not all speech words, written words, linguistic thoughts and thought images, actual images, literal symbols, signs, etc...

Not all symbols refer.

Conventional theories of meaning presuppose symbolism.

Is symbolism a name?

When doing analytic philosophy, it is always good to avoid metaphor whenever and wherever possible. As long as one can still convey one's meaning. Poe...

Sorry Noah, I'm not familiar with it. Got a rough outline?

Not all meaning is literal.

Two participants are having an online debate. The loser doesn't know that s/he has pulled the shortest straw. They're on the short end of the stick. T...

Rhetorically, metaphorically, allegorically, etc... We are talking about meaning here.