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360
JANE HEAL:
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
36I
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JANE HEAL:
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
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JANE HEAL:
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
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366
JANE HEAL:
ON THE PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
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JANE HEAL:
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
369
OF MEANING'
304.
370
JANE
HEAL:
III
In a recentpaper Dummettwritesas follows:
Accordingto a well knownview the best methodof formulatingthe philosophicalproblemssurroundingthe conceptof
meaningand relatednotionsis by askingwhatformshould be
taken by what is called a 'theoryof meaning'for any one
entirelanguage; thatis, a detailedspecificationof the meanings of all the words and sentence-forming
operatorsof the
language, yieldinga specificationof the meaning of every
expressionand sentenceof the language... I sharethe belief
that this is themostfruitful
approachto the problemsin this
area of philosophy.'
Solvingthe philosophicalproblemssurroundingthe conceptof
meaning would provide, says Dummett, 'a complete theoryof
how language functionsas a language'. I take it that such a
completetheorywould include what I have called an analysisof
the concept of meaning. So Dummett seems to be saying that
knowingwhat forma calculus of meaningshould have will take
us a major part of the way, perhapsall of the way, to an analysis
of meaning.
I
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
37I
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JANE HEAL:
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
373
theoryof meaningfora languageis one which gives the interpretation of the languageto someone who alreadyhas the concepts
expressiblein thelanguage-it sets out whichwordsare associated
withwhichconcepts.A fullblooded theoryof meaningdoes more
than this; it tells us what it is to have the conceptsexpressedin
the language. A theory of meaning which is modest cannot
illuminatewhat kind of practical abilitya person has when he
speaksa language,but a fullblooded theorywould do so. To say
John knows that 'The Earth moves' means that the Earth
moves
gives littlegrasp on John'sbehaviourand abilitiesvis a' vis these
noises because we have not been told whathavingthe concept'the
Earth' or 'moves' involves.If we knewthese things,then to learn
that Johnknows 'the Earth moves' means that the Earth moves
would be to learn interestingthingsabout John'semploymentof
and responseto thissentence.
But is this correct?
Dummett writes:
We need not stop to enquire whether or in what cases
someone who does not possess the linguistic means to
express a concept or who lacks a language altogethermay
to acknowyet be said to grasp that concept. It is sufficient
ledge thatthe prototypicalcase of graspinga conceptis that
in which this grasp consistsin the understandingof certain
wordor expressionor rangeof expressionsin some language.'
however,we do need to stop to enquirejust this.
Unfortunately,
If having a concept can, roughly speaking, be equated with
havingcontrolof a linguisticexpressionforthat conceptthen,of
course,a fullblooded theoryof meaningwill give us insightinto
what sort of human behaviouris involvedin having a language.
But if non-languageusers can have conceptsin a full blown and
non-parasiticsense thenspellingout what is involvedin havinga
conceptwill not help in explainingwhat language is. It will not
show what extraabilitiesand patternsof behaviourare exhibited
by language users, over and above those exhibited by nonlinguisticconcept possessors. Talk of the 'prototypicalcase of
graspinga concept' unjustifiablyblurs and implicitlyprejudges
connection.
the issue of the thought-language
I
374
JANE HEAL:
ON THE
PHRASE
'THEORY
OF MEANING'
375
OF NEWCASTLE
UPON
TYNE