Read more
Excerpt from Truth and Denotation: A Study in Semantical Theory
Under semantics are often included theories concerned with the analysis of meaning at the common - sense level, with meaning and expression in literature and the arts, and even with schemes aimed at the betterment of the world's social, political, and economic ills! These kinds of theories, some of them of genuine interest, usually rest upon unanalyzed foundations. Their root ideas or concepts are often not clear, nor have their basic assumptions undergone logical analysis. Such theories seem to presuppose something more basic by way of logical substructure. There is urgent need for an approach to problems of a general semantical nature from a secure theoretical basis. But the semantics of this book is concerned solely with denota tion and allied notions, and the discussion is therefore somewhat narrower, more technical, and more exact than is usual in philosoph ical treatises of a more general kind.
Often semantics is taken as containing also a theory of meaning or of intension. The intension of a term is then distinguished from the object for which it stands somewhat as, traditionally, the connota tion of a term has been distinguished from its denotation. In this book we shall be occupied only with semantical theories of extension or denotation, which are usually presupposed by, or contained in, systematic theories of intension in one way or another. Even if we confine ourselves to theories of denotation or extension, we have a subject of great richness and fascination. This becomes especially evident if one re¿ects upon the intimate connection between denota tion and the semantical concept of truth. One of the important achievements of modern semantics is to have provided a rigorous, logico-mathematical analysis of the truth-concept of formalized language-systems of certain kinds. Truth, denotation, and other semantical notions are closely interrelated. A denotational semantics of sufficient power must contain a semantical truth-concept also.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
