Reflections on Meaning

by Paul Horwich

Paul Horwich, one of the world's most distinguished philosophers, develops in this book his highly original deflationary conception of language. His main aim in Reflections on Meaning is to explain how mere noises, marks, gestures, and mental symbols are able to capture the world - that is, how words and sentences (in whatever medium) come to mean what they do, to stand for certain things, to be true or false of reality. His answer is an innovative development of Wittgenstein's idea that the meaning of a term is nothing more than its use.

248 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2005

Reviews

[Jack Moriarty · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the single most painful piece of philosophy I have ever read. I inadvertently created a horcrux while reading this book. I would not recommend.

[José Rcl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style is very bad, tho the theory is very interesting and radical, tho it shows how this kind of theory needs to have less explanatory power due to its parsimony