12.12 Meaning And Definition


Meanings aren't definitions, though definitions do appear to work better when meanings are treated not as things, but as processes in the mind. "Of course, it is no great surprise to find that `game' has a more psychological character than does `brick', which we can define in physical terms without referring to our goals. But most ideas lie in between. We saw this in the case of `chair', which we cannot describe without referring both to a physical structure and to a psychological function."

(NB: I don't find much of this surprising, as Minsky even borrows Wittegnstein's most famous example. But is there something new in this notion of requiring concepts to relate both physical and psychological attributes?)


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