Meaning, Indian theories of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhav M. Deshpande
Keyword(s):  
Word Meaning ◽  
External World ◽  
Sanskrit Poetics ◽  
Secondary Meaning ◽  
Primary Meaning ◽  
Epistemological Views ◽  
Theories Of Meaning ◽  
Ultimate Purpose ◽  
Sanskrit Grammar

The term artha in Sanskrit is used for the notion of meaning, in the widest sense of the word ‘meaning’; it can be the meaning of words, sentences and scriptures, as well as of nonlinguistic gestures and signs. Its meaning ranges from a real object in the external world referred to by a word to a mere concept of an object which may or may not correspond to anything in the external world. The differences regarding what ‘meaning’ is are argued out by the philosophical schools of Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṃsā, Buddhism, Sanskrit grammar and Sanskrit poetics. Among these, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika and Mīmāṃsā have realistic ontologies. Mīmāṃsā focuses mainly on interpreting the Vedic scriptures. Buddhist thinkers generally depict language as giving a false picture of reality. Sanskrit grammar is more interested in language than in ontology, while Sanskrit poetics focuses on the poetic dimensions of meaning. Generally, the notion of meaning is stratified into three or four types. First there is the primary meaning. If this is inappropriate in a given context, then one moves to a secondary meaning, an extension of the primary meaning. Beyond this is the suggested meaning, which may or may not be the same as the meaning intended by the speaker. Specific conditions under which these different varieties are understood are discussed by the schools. The various Indian theories of meaning are closely related to the overall stances taken by the different schools. Among the factors which influence the notion of meaning are the ontological and epistemological views of a school, its views regarding the role of God and scripture, its focus on a certain type of discourse, and its ultimate purpose in theorizing.

The role of a single lingua franca in scientific inquiry

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Ekkehard König
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Scientific Communication ◽  
External World ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Multilingual Approach

This paper discusses the role of English as the current lingua franca academica in contrast to a multilingual approach to scientific inquiry on the basis of four perspectives: a cognitive, a typological, a contrastive and a domain-specific one. It is argued that a distinction must be drawn between the natural sciences and the humanities in order to properly assess the potential of either linguistic solution to the problem of scientific communication. To the extent that the results of scientific research are expressed in formal languages and international standardised terminology, the exclusive use of one lingua franca is unproblematic, especially if phenomena of our external world are under consideration. In the humanities, by contrast, especially in the analysis of our non-visible, mental world, a single lingua franca cannot be regarded as a neutral instrument, but may more often than not become a conceptual prison. For the humanities the analysis of the conceptual system of a language provides the most reliable access to its culture. For international exchange of results, however, the humanities too have to rely on a suitable lingua franca as language of description as opposed to the language under description.

Separatism: a cross-linguistic corpus-assisted study of word-meaning development in a time of conflict

Corpora ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-416
Author(s):  
Tatyana Karpenko-Seccombe
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Word Usage ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Dominant Ideologies

This paper considers the role of historical context in initiating shifts in word meaning. The study focusses on two words – the translation equivalents separatist and separatism – in the discourses of Russian and Ukrainian parliamentary debates before and during the Russian–Ukrainian conflict which emerged at the beginning of 2014. The paper employs a cross-linguistic corpus-assisted discourse analysis to investigate the way wider socio-political context affects word usage and meaning. To allow a comparison of discourses around separatism between two parliaments, four corpora were compiled covering the debates in both parliaments before and during the conflict. Keywords, collocations and n-grams were studied and compared, and this was followed by qualitative analysis of concordance lines, co-text and the larger context in which these words occurred. The results show how originally close meanings of translation equivalents began to diverge and manifest noticeable changes in their connotative, affective and, to an extent, denotative meanings at a time of conflict in line with the dominant ideologies of the parliaments as well as the political affiliations of individuals.

Naming and Indexicality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Bochner
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Critical Survey ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Epistemic Constraints ◽  
Theories Of Meaning

How do words stand for things? Taking ideas from philosophical semantics and pragmatics, this book offers a unique, detailed, and critical survey of central debates concerning linguistic reference in the twentieth century. It then uses the survey to identify and argue for a novel version of current 'two-dimensional' theories of meaning, which generalise the context-dependency of indexical expressions. The survey highlights the history of tensions between semantic and epistemic constraints on plausible theories of word meaning, from analytic philosophy and modern truth-conditional semantics, to the Referentialist and Externalist revolutions in theories of meaning, to the more recent reconciliatory ambition of two-dimensionalists. It clearly introduces technical semantical notions, theses, and arguments, with easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides. Wide-ranging in its scope, yet offering an accessible route into literature that can seem complex and technical, this will be essential reading for advanced students, and academic researchers in semantics, pragmatics, and philosophy of language.

Using Speakers' Referential Intentions to Model Early Cross-Situational Word Learning

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 578-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Frank ◽  
Noah D. Goodman ◽  
Joshua B. Tenenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Mutual Exclusivity ◽  
Object Individuation ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Inference Problems ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Situational Learning

Word learning is a “chicken and egg” problem. If a child could understand speakers' utterances, it would be easy to learn the meanings of individual words, and once a child knows what many words mean, it is easy to infer speakers' intended meanings. To the beginning learner, however, both individual word meanings and speakers' intentions are unknown. We describe a computational model of word learning that solves these two inference problems in parallel, rather than relying exclusively on either the inferred meanings of utterances or cross-situational word-meaning associations. We tested our model using annotated corpus data and found that it inferred pairings between words and object concepts with higher precision than comparison models. Moreover, as the result of making probabilistic inferences about speakers' intentions, our model explains a variety of behavioral phenomena described in the word-learning literature. These phenomena include mutual exclusivity, one-trial learning, cross-situational learning, the role of words in object individuation, and the use of inferred intentions to disambiguate reference.

Of Skepticism with Regard to the Senses

2019 ◽  
pp. 172-202
Author(s):  
Jay L. Garfield
Keyword(s):  
External World ◽  
The Senses

This chapter addresses Treatise 1.4.2. It explains the argument in detail, showing again that Hume’s account of custom is central to his understanding both of why skepticism with regard to the senses is justified and of how we come to trust our senses nonetheless. This chapter demonstrates just how robust Hume takes the role of custom to be in our psychological lives. Hume does not argue that we are not entitled to a belief in the external world, or that we are not entitled to trust our senses. Instead, he asks about the grounds of that entitlement, and locates it in custom.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-132
Author(s):  
Simone Natale
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
External World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Historical Trajectory

The historical trajectory examined in this book demonstrates that humans’ reactions to machines that are programmed to simulate intelligent behaviors represent a constitutive element of what is commonly called AI. Artificial intelligence technologies are not just designed to interact with human users: they are designed to fit specific characteristics of the ways users perceive and navigate the external world. Communicative AI becomes more effective not only by evolving from a technical standpoint but also by profiting, through the dynamics of banal deception, from the social meanings humans project onto situations and things. In this conclusion, the risks and problems related to AI’s banal deception are explored in relationship with other AI-based technologies such as robotics and social media bots. A call is made for initiating a more serious debate about the role of deception in interface design and computer science. The book concludes with a reflection on the need to develop a critical and skeptical stance in interactions with computing technologies and AI. In order not to be found unprepared for the challenges posed by AI, computer scientists, software developers, designers as well as users have to consider and critically interrogate the potential outcomes of banal deception.

Children's theories of word meaning: The role of shape similarity in early acquisition

1994 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutsumi Imai ◽  
Dedre Gentner ◽  
Nobuko Uchida
Keyword(s):  
Word Meaning ◽  
Shape Similarity ◽  
Early Acquisition

scholarly journals Beyond Atoms and Accidents

Oriens ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 67-122
Author(s):  
Bilal Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
External World ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The Status

Abstract This article explores a novel approach to the analysis of the external world in postclassical Ashʿarite kalām. While discussions of physical reality and its fundamental constituents in the classical period of Islamic thought turned chiefly on the opposing views of kalām atomism and Aristotelian hylomorphism, in the postclassical period kalām thinkers in the Ashʿarite tradition forge a new frame of inquiry. Beginning most earnestly with the philosophical works of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, a critical approach is developed addressing received views in ontology, including the relation of substance to accident, the status of Aristotelian form and matter, and part-to-whole relations. Drawing on Rāzī’s al-Mulakhkhaṣ and al-Mabāḥith, kalām thinkers develop several concepts to distinguish arbitrary or mind-dependent (iʿtibārī) composites (‘man-plus-stone’) from non-arbitrary composites (e.g., tree, paste, and house). Most notably, they adopt a substance-plus-accident ontology in opposition to the Aristotelian hylomorphism of falsafa. The mutakallimūn will conceive of composites as possessing ‘real unity’ (ḥaqīqa muttaḥida) while dispensing with the explanatory and causal role of Aristotelian substantial forms.

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