Difference between revisions of "Meaning"
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Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass | Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass | ||
| + | ==Problems== | ||
| + | “Word meaning exists in the mind of the speaker” | ||
| + | |||
| + | This idea aligns with subjectivist and intentionalist theories of meaning, which argue that: | ||
| + | * Meaning is mental: A word means what the speaker intends it to mean. | ||
| + | * Communication is inferential: Listeners interpret meaning by reconstructing the speaker’s intent. | ||
| + | *Context is king: The same word can mean different things depending on the speaker’s goals, emotions, or background. | ||
| + | |||
| + | This view is often contrasted with: | ||
| + | |||
| + | Semantic Externalism | ||
| + | * Meaning is not just in the mind—it’s shaped by social conventions, shared usage, and external reference. | ||
| + | * Example: “Water” refers to H₂O regardless of what a speaker believes it is. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Wittgenstein: “The meaning of a word is its use in the language.” | ||
==Solution== | ==Solution== | ||
| − | * Before the any design or other collaborative process starts, create a | + | * Before the any design or other collaborative process starts, create a word list (typically a taxonomy) of those terms that are critical to the process. |
* If there is to be any sort of categorization of components try to create a taxonomy that separates the components into distinct buckers, called taxa. | * If there is to be any sort of categorization of components try to create a taxonomy that separates the components into distinct buckers, called taxa. | ||
| − | * The other | + | * The other terms can go into an alphabetic glossary. |
==References== | ==References== | ||
Latest revision as of 16:45, 14 November 2025
Full Title or Meme
Before people can start any sort of management or design process, it is important that they have a common umderstanding of the meaning of the words that are important to the process.
Context
A vary large percentage of disagreements between team members seems to boil down into a difference of meaning that each assigns to critical works that are used to describe the system.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all." Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass
Problems
“Word meaning exists in the mind of the speaker”
This idea aligns with subjectivist and intentionalist theories of meaning, which argue that:
- Meaning is mental: A word means what the speaker intends it to mean.
- Communication is inferential: Listeners interpret meaning by reconstructing the speaker’s intent.
- Context is king: The same word can mean different things depending on the speaker’s goals, emotions, or background.
This view is often contrasted with:
Semantic Externalism
- Meaning is not just in the mind—it’s shaped by social conventions, shared usage, and external reference.
- Example: “Water” refers to H₂O regardless of what a speaker believes it is.
Wittgenstein: “The meaning of a word is its use in the language.”
Solution
- Before the any design or other collaborative process starts, create a word list (typically a taxonomy) of those terms that are critical to the process.
- If there is to be any sort of categorization of components try to create a taxonomy that separates the components into distinct buckers, called taxa.
- The other terms can go into an alphabetic glossary.
