SpheresOfBalance wrote:Arising, you know that I've respected you in a lot of ways, I may not say it very often, but on many occasions I've supported you fully. The reason I've picked at that particular baby, (phrase), of yours, is because in and of itself it comes off both arrogant, and obviously false. ...
No it's not.
In FACT, ones response does not necessarily have anything to do with another's MEANING!!
Now you're getting it.
If you had formulated that particular phrases 'meaning,' using the word, 'words' instead of the word, 'meaning,' then you would have been much closer to being correct. ...
No the way I formulated it is correct although what I could add for clarity is that the meaning of one's words to another is the response they get.
But even still, your phrase would, in and of itself, convey your assumption that your understanding of the meaning of words is necessarily superior to others, and this a direct contradiction to your other belief that dictionaries do not contain meaning, ...
Well it might be if I actually thought this but I don't, this is just your psycho-babble getting in the way.
that meaning is born of peoples minds, such that it leaves no room for anyone to formulate any sentence that another may understand. ...
No and yes, meaning is born in one's thoughts but it can be conveyed by language but due to how language works it can be a difficult process. Put it this way, I make a distinction between 'thoughts' and 'thinks', 'thoughts' are what one does in one's 'head' without language and 'thinks' are what one does in one's head with thoughts and language, that is, when one uses language to think about one's thoughts, that is, when one talks to oneself. Now I think many people do this and I think it's comes so naturally that a problem can arise when then using language to communicate one's thoughts, or thinks if you like, to others. So one comes up with a thought and then thinks about it with words, or even just starts with the thinks and makes them back into thoughts, and because language is essentially a process that necessarily involves an other what one is actually doing is being two people in one's head but since both are actually the same there appears an accurate correspondence between the meaning of the words and the meaning of one's thoughts, i.e. the thinks and the thoughts are understood as the same, and they are because there aren't actually two people. The problem arises when one then tries to communicate these thoughts or thinks to another user of the same language, one uses the words that have accurately, to themselves, conveyed the meaning of one's thoughts but language is not so simple as the other may have a different meaning attached to the words that are being used. Hence if you truly wish to communicate a thought to another then one has to pay close attention to the response you get from the other upon hearing your words, as it may well be, and often is, that the other has reconstructed the words into a meaning that is not the one that one wished to convey and as such one needs to listen to the discrepancies and understand how the other is making their meaning and adjust one's next communication to reflect that fact. This is an experience fairly well understood by fine artists as they use mediums that by and large are not linguistic so they create an object that expresses their thoughts but understand that the viewer is also involved in the creation of any meaning obtained from that object, if the reaction of the viewer appears close to what they wanted to express then job well done, if their intention was to communicate that is as it may well be that they are just creating it to express themselves and nothing more. It's why many artists like to discuss their work as others sometimes give them insights into their works that they themselves did not 'see'.
Whether you care to acknowledge it or not, in FACT, a dictionary that 'everyone' refers to, is the "ONLY" way one can insure that their words are capable of conveying the meaning that is inside their heads. So it is the job of anyone that wishes to convey the proper meaning that is contained in their minds, to adjust the words they use to meet those in a dictionary or else they fail to formulate sentences that another can find common reference so as to fully understand. ...
This understanding is just about the worst way to think about how to communicate with language.
WE CANNOT CRAWL UNTO EACH OTHERS MINDS TO FIND TRUE MEANING. ...
There is no 'true' meaning but there is exactly a way to understand how to communicate the meaning in one's 'mind' and it's called language and involves listening and understanding how language works and especially how it works when being used to think and communicate.
Unfortunately we must rely on REFERENCE books as a source of COMMON meaning so as to understand one another.
Then you'd have to explain how common meaning was obtained before writing and how it held before dictionaries?
IT CAN BE NO OTHER WAY! ...
Not sure it's even a way.
If you don't understand my point then you had better rethink your belief system. ...
No, I don't think so. As I think you misunderstand how language works and it's relation to meaning and communicating such things.
Because on this topic, my logic is flawless!
I have no doubt it is but the problem is your premises are wrong.
No, I'm an idiot!! I'M NOT BETTER THAN ANYONE!! WE ARE ALL BORN OF EQUAL POTENTIAL. Unless we are born physically flawed, or are subsequently mentally corrupted!
Dippy nonsense. What should be asserted is that everyone has the right to equality of opportunity to achieve their full potential.
So, what I'm saying to you is to "give people the benefit of doubt" because that can ONLY serve both you and them, when it comes to the sharing of meaning contained in each of our minds. ...
I pretty much never do anything else.
NO ONE EITHER DESERVES OR SHOULD INSIST ON CARTE BLANCHE IN TERMS OF MEANING CONVEYANCE, BEING SHARED AMONGST EVER DIFFERING PEOPLES, SUCH THAT THEY STOMP ON ANOTHER'S WORD USAGE AS IF THEY ARE SUPERIOR. As it's just an illusion or their delusion, the former born of ignorance, the latter, a self stroking mechanism. Take your pick!
I pick that this is just all a product of your pet psycho-babble.
And despite your belief in them, or the date being in dispute, I wish you and yours happy holidays! May it find you and yours, healthy, happy and wise!
No idea why you don't just say Merry Christmas?