Meaning

A meaning is a set of thoughts that people take symbols to have. Meanings can do many things, such as provoke a certain idea, or denote a certain real-world entity.

See also

Fields

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• General Semantics, semiotics, Semantics, Pragmatics

Perspectives

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• logical positivism
• ordinary language philosophy

Theories

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• causal theory of names
• theory of descriptions
• definite descriptions
• universal grammar

Considerations

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• idea
• image
• information
• sense
• symbol
• metaphor

Important theorists

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• J. L. Austin
• Roland Barthes
• Noam Chomsky
• Umberto Eco
• Viktor Frankl
• Paul Grice
• Saul Kripke
• Charles Peirce
• Bertrand Russell
• Ferdinand de Saussure
• John Searle
• Claude Lévi-Strauss
• P. F. Strawson