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An Inferentialist Approach to Semantics: Time for a New Kind of Structuralism?
Author(s) -
Peregrin Jaroslav
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2008.00179.x
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , structuralism (philosophy of science) , semantics (computer science) , epistemology , institution , point (geometry) , linguistics , sociology , computer science , philosophy , mathematics , social science , programming language , geometry
The perennial question – What is meaning? – receives many answers. In this paper I present and discuss inferentialism – a recent approach to semantics based on the thesis that to have ( such and such ) a meaning is to be governed by ( such and such ) a cluster of inferential rules . I point out that this thesis presupposes that looking for meaning requires seeing language as a social institution (rather than, say, a psychological reality). I also indicate that this approach may be seen as a new embodiment of the old ideas of structuralism.