"quiescently" - 1 õppematerjal

Keelefilosoofia raamat

Some of your behavior is causally the result of my saying certain words that mean what they do, and some of my behavior results from your saying meaningful words likewise. Legal decisions in capital cases sometimes turn on the meanings of words, and so on. Thus meaning, whatever it is, must have some causal power (some push and pull, some punch, some biff). But propositions, as entirely abstract entities, precisely do not have causal powers. They sit quiescently and uselessly outside spacetime, and do nothing. So it is hard to see how proposi- tions could figure in the explanation of human linguistic behavior or could in any other way help to account for the dynamic social role of meaning. And therefore they seem to be unnecessary posits after all. Reply Even if propositions do not help in the explanation of human behavior, human behavior is not the only thing that needs explaining. The "meaning 74 Theories of meaning