Confusion of sign and object is original sin coeval with the word.
Willard Van Orman QuineRead
Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that meaning exists independently of the objects it refers to when linked to language.
Willard Van Orman Quine's quote reflects on the relationship between language, meaning, and reference. He argues that meaning is not inherently tied to the objects it describes but is instead a construct that emerges when words are assigned to those objects. This perspective emphasizes the complex interplay between our understanding of language and the world around us, suggesting that meaning shifts as language evolves and is used in different contexts.
Themes
MeaningLanguageReferencePhilosophyCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about language and reality.
More from Willard Van Orman Quine
All quotes →Science is not a substitute for common sense, but an extension of it.
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It is one of the consolations of philosophy that the benefit of showing how to dispense with a concept does not hinge on dispensing with it.
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For me the problem of induction is a problem about the world: a problem of how we, as we are now (by our present scientific lights), in a world we never made, should stand better than random, or coin-tossing chances changes of coming out right when we predict by inductions. . . .
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Language is conceived in sin and science is its redemption.
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Creatures inveterately wrong in their inductions have a pathetic but praise-worthy tendency to die before reproducing their kind.
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