Chapter Three: Logic and Language

Philosophy of Language
 Philosophy of Language is the reasoned inquiry/investigation
into the origins of language, nature of meaning, the usage and
cognition of language, and the relationship between language
and reality.
 Language is a body of standard meanings of words and the
form of speech used as a means of expressing the feeling,
emotion, desire, thought etc in a consistent pattern of
communication.
 Cont….

 One of the most fundamental questions asked in Philosophy of

Language is "what is language (in general terms)?“
 According to semiotics, language is the mere manipulation
and use of symbols in order to draw attention to signified
content.
 Semiotics is the study of sign processes in communication and
of how meaning is constructed and understood.
 Con’…

 PL It is an important discipline in its own right, and hence, it

poses questions like "What is meaning?", "How does language
refer to the real world?", "Is language learned or is it innate?",
"How does the meaning of a sentence emerge out of its parts?,
and other related issues

PL: particularly
 For analytic Philosophers - has been concerned with four
central problems: the nature of meaning, language use,
language cognition, and the relationship b/n language, logic and
reality.
 For continental philosophers - tends to be dealt with, not as a
separate topic, but as a part of logic and other field of studies.
Some philosophical approaches to the philosophical nature of meaning

 “Meaning" - can be described as the content carried by the

words or signs exchanged by people when communicating
through language.
Two types of linguistic meaning:
1. Conceptual meaning - to the definitions of words themselves,
and the features of those definitions, which can be treated
using semantic feature analysis.

2. Associative meaning - the individual mental understandings of

the speaker, and which may be connotative, collocative, social,
affective, reflected or thematic).
 Theories of Meaning

1. Idea theories: claim that meanings are purely mental contents

provoked by signs. - mainly associated with the British Empiricist
traditions of John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume

2. Truth-conditional theories: meaning to be the conditions under

which an expression may be true or false. Gottlob Frege, - has
also been much modern work in this area.

3. Use theories: meaning to involve or be related to speech acts and

particular utterances/words, not the expressions themselves. - was
pioneered by Ludwig Wittgenstein and his Communitarian view
of language.
 Cont…

4. Reference theories (or semantic externalism): view

meaning to be equivalent to those things in the world that
are actually connected to signs. Tyler Burge and Saul
Kripke are the best known proponents of this approach.

5. Verificationist theories: these associate the meaning of a

sentence with its method of verification or falsification.

6. Pragmatist theories: the meaning or understanding of a

sentence is determined by the consequences of its
application
 LOGIC AND MEANING
The Functions of Language: Cognitive and Emotive Meanings
 Argument is a group of statements; and statements are sentences
that are declarative.
 Sentences are made up of words; and words have their own
meanings that are to be conveyed through definitions.
 words are the most basic units in any language, and thus the most
important thing in every argument.
 among other things, Ordinary language is used to: Ask questions,
Tell jokes, Flirt with someone, Guess at answers, Tell stories, Tell
lies ,Give directions, Launch verbal assaults, Sing songs, Form
hypotheses, Issue commands, Greet someone and so on.
 Cont…

Two linguistic functions are particularly important:

1. To convey information
2. To express or evoke feelings

The Terminology that conveys information is said to have

cognitive meaning, and that expresses or evokes feelings
is said to have emotive meaning.
 Cont….

Consider, the following examples

1. The death penalty, which is legal in thirty-six states, has been
carried out most often in Georgia; however, since1977 Texas
holds the record for the greatest number of executions. -
intended primarily to convey information/ have a cognitive
meaning

2. The death penalty is a cruel and inhuman form of punishment

in which hapless prisoners are dragged from their cells and
summarily slaughtered only to satiate the bloodlust of a
vengeful public. - at least in part, to express or evoke
feelings/ have a strong emotive meaning
 Deficiency of Cognitive Meanings: Vagueness and Ambiguity

Vagueness: A linguistic expression is said to be vague if there are

borderline cases in which it is impossible to tell if the expression
applies or does not apply.
 Vague expressions often allow for a continuous range of
interpretations.
 The meaning is blurred, obscure, and imprecise.
Example- ‘‘love,’’ ‘‘happiness,’’ ‘‘peace,’’ ‘‘excessive,’’ ‘‘fresh,’’
‘‘rich,’’ ‘‘poor,’’ ‘‘normal,’’ ‘‘conservative,’’ and ‘‘polluted’’
 We can rarely tell with any precision whether they apply to a
given situation or not.
 How fresh does something have to be in order to be called fresh?
 Vagueness can also affect entire statements. So there is a need for
law to be applied.
 Cont….

Ambiguity: An expression is said to be ambiguous when it can

be interpreted as having more than one clearly distinct meaning .
Example: ‘‘light,’’ ‘‘proper,’’ ‘‘critical,’’ ‘‘stress,’’ ‘‘mad,’’
‘‘inflate,’’ ‘‘chest,’’ ‘‘bank,’’ ‘‘sound,’’ and ‘‘race.’’
 If one were to describe a beer as a light pilsner, does this mean
that the beer is light in color, light in calories, or light in taste?
 If one were to describe an action as proper, does this mean
proper in a moral sense or proper in the sense of being
socially acceptable?
 It results from the way in which certain words are combined.
 Con’t…
 The difference b/n ambiguity and vagueness is that:
 vague terminology allows for a relatively continuous range of
interpretations (a blur of meaning),
 ambiguous terminology allows for multiple discrete
interpretations (a mix-up of otherwise clear meanings).
 There are many forms of expression that are ambiguous in one
context and vague in another.

Example- ‘‘slow’’ ‘‘light,’’ ‘‘fast,’’ and ‘‘rich,’’ “poor,” “normal”

In one context could mean either mentally retarded or physically
slow, but when the word refers to physical slowness, it could be
vague. How slow is slow?
 Cont…

 The role of vagueness and ambiguity in arguments may be conveniently

explored in the context of conflicting arguments between individuals.
Such conflicts are called disputes.
 Forms of Disputes in Logic: Verbal and Factual Disputes

 Disputes that arise over the meaning of language are called verbal
disputes.
 Some disputes arise over a disagreement about facts, and these are called
factual disputes.
 Disputes arisen because of the truth or falsity of claims are factual
disputes
 Cont
Example-1:
Kassa:Mrs. Zenebech abuses her children. And how do I know that? I
saw her spank one of her kids the other day after the kid misbehaved.
Jemal: Don't be silly. Kids need discipline, and by disciplining her
children, Mrs. Zenebech is showing that she loves them. Vague, and
Verbal dispute

Example-2:
Mullu: Im afraid that Dagim is guilty of cheating in the exam. Last
night he confessed to me that he was sate closer to Tsedale, who is the
most excellent student in our class, and takes almost all answers from
her.
Worku: No, you couldnt be more mistaken. In this country, no one is
guilty until proven so in a court of law, and Dagim has not yet even
been accused of anything. Ambigue and Verbal dispute.
 Cont…

Example-3:
Debebe: I know that Fisseha stole a computer from the old school
house. Aberash told me that she saw Fisseha do it.
Maru: Thats ridiculous! Fisseha has never stolen anything in his life.
Aberash hates Fisseha, and she is trying to pin the theft on him only
to shield her criminal boyfriend. Factual dispute

Tips: In dealing with disputes, the first question is whether the

dispute is factual, verbal, or some combination of the two. If the
dispute is verbal, then the second question to be answered is whether
the dispute concerns ambiguity or vagueness.
 The Intention and extension of terms
 Basic units of any language are words.
 A term is any word or arrangement of words that may serve as the
subject of the statement.
 Terms consists of proper names, common names and descriptive
phrases
Proper Names Common Names Descriptive Phrases

Ayele House The first president of Ethiopia

John person The king of England
North Ethiopia Animal Those who study hard

 verbs, adverbs, prepositions, adjectives and conjunctions are not

terms.
 Con’t…

 Words are usually considered to be symbols, and the entities they

symbolize are usually called meanings.
 Terms, being made up of words, are also symbols, but the
meanings they symbolize are of two kinds: intensional and
extensional.
 The intensional meaning (which is otherwise known as
intension or connotation) consists of the qualities or attributes
that the term connotes, and
 The extensional meaning (which is otherwise known as
extension or denotation) consists of the members of the class that
the term denotes.
 Cont…

Example:
The intensional meaning “cat’’ consists of the attributes of being
furry, of having four legs, of moving in a certain way, of emitting
certain sounds, and so on,

The extensional meaning cats themselves- all the cats in the

universe. term connotes the attributes and denotes the cats.

 ‘‘Intension‘‘ and ‘‘extension’’ are roughly equivalent to the

more modern terms ‘‘sense‘‘ and ‘‘reference’’ respectively.
 Con’t…

 logicians typically restrict the meaning of connotation to what is

usually called the conventional connotation it includes the
attributes that the term commonly calls forth in the minds of
competent speakers of the language.
 The connotation of a term remains more or less the same from
person to person and from time to time.
 The denotation of a term also typically remains the same from
person to person, but it may change with the passage of time.
 The denotation of “currently living cat’’ for example, is
constantly fluctuating as some cats die and others are born.
 The denotation of the term “cat’’ on the other hand, is
presumably constant because it denotes all cats, past, present,
and future.
 Cont…
 Sometimes the denotation of a term can change radically with the
passage of time.

 The terms “currently living dodo bird‘‘ and “current king of France,‘‘
for example, at one time denoted actually existing entities, but today
all such entities have perished/Frozen.

 Accordingly, these terms now have what is called empty extension.

They are said to denote the empty (or “null‘‘) class, the class that has
no members.

 While these terms have empty extension, however, they do not have
empty intension, for they connote a variety of intelligible attributes.

 The intension determines extension - The intensional meaning of a

term serves as the criterion for deciding what the extension consists of.
 Con’t…
 The distinction b/n intension and extension may be further
illustrated by comparing the way in which these concepts can
be used to give order to random sequences of terms.
 Terms may be put in the order of increasing intension and
increasing extension, and decreasing intension, and decreasing
extension.

Increasing intension - when each term in the series (except the

first) connotes more attributes than the one preceding it- each
term in the series (except the first) is more specific than the one
preceding it.
 (A term is specific to the degree that it connotes more
attributes.)
 Con’t…
Increasing extension - when each term in the series (except the
first) denotes a class having more members than the class denoted
by the term preceding it - the class size gets larger with each
successive term.
Eexamples:
• Increasing intension: animal, mammal, feline, tiger
• Increasing extension: tiger, feline, mammal, animal
• Decreasing intension: tiger, feline, mammal, animal
• Decreasing extension: animal, mammal, feline, tiger
 The order of increasing intension is usually the same as that of
decreasing extension. Conversely, the order of decreasing
intension is usually the same as that of increasing extension.
 Con’t…
 some exceptions.
Unicorn; unicorn with blue eyes; unicorn with blue eyes and
green horn; unicorn with blue eyes, green horn, and a weight of
over 400 pounds.
 Each term in this series has empty extension; so, while the
series exhibits the order of increasing intension, it does not
exhibit the order of decreasing extension.
 living human being; living human being with a genetic code;
living human being with a genetic code and a brain; living
human being with a genetic code, a brain, and a height of less
than 100 feet
 If the terms have extension, they have intention
 But, if terms have intention, they might not have extension.
 So intention determines extension.
 Logic and Definition:

Meaning, Types, and Purposes of Definitions

 Definition is a group of words that assigns a meaning to some
word or group of words.
 every definition consists of two parts: the definiendum and the
definiens.
 The definiendum is the word or group of words that is supposed
to be defined,
 The definiens is the word or group of words that does the
defining.
Example: ‘‘Tiger” means a large, striped, ferocious feline
indigenous to the jungles of India and Asia’’
• Tiger = definiendum
• Difiniens: everything after the word ‘‘means’’
 Purpose of Definition

 To explain the meaning of a word

 To clear up the vagueness, ambiguity and over generality of
words.
 To introduce new words
 To avoid useless controversies and confliicts over the meaning
of terms
 To prevent incorrect reasoning
 To develop the ability to reason logically
 To avoid confusion or misleading use of words and phrases
 Types of definitions
1. Stipulative Definition
 Assigns a meaning to a word for the first time.
 Creating a new word or give a new meaning to an old word.
 A recommendation or proposal to use a term in a certain manner.
 It becomes lexical definition when it becomes part of established
language.
 Because a stipulative definition is a completely arbitrary
assignment of a meaning to a word for the first time, they can’t
be evaluated as true or false.
 Cont…

 The purpose of a stipulative definition is usually to replace a

more complex expression with a simpler one.
Example:
‘‘Tigon’’ refers to ‘‘offspring of male tiger and female lion’’
‘‘Liger’’ means ‘‘offspring of male lion and female tiger’’
 Another use for stipulative definitions is to set up secret codes.
 ‘‘Operation Barbarosa’’ was the name the Germans gave to the
invasion of Russia.
 ‘‘Operation Overlord’’ was the name the allied forces gave to the
planned invasion of Normandy.
 “Operation sunset” was the name that Ethiopian forces gave to
invade Eritrea.
 A stipulative definition cannot provide any new information
about the subject matter of the definiendum.
 Cont…

2. Lexical Definition
 Used to report the meaning that a word already has in a language.
 Dictionary definitions are all instances of lexical definitions.
 Can be evaluated as true/false depending on whether it does or
does not report the way a word is actually used
 Has purpose of eliminating ambiguity of a word.
 A word is said to be ambiguous when it can be interpreted as
having two or more clearly distinct meanings in a given context.
Example: Bank, Light,
Bank - financial institution Light - weight
- Edge of the river - Radiant energy
 Cont…
3. Precise Definition
 Has purpose of reducing vagueness.
 An expression is vague if there are borderline cases in which
it is impossible to tell if the word applies or does not apply.
 Words such as ‘‘fresh,’’ ‘‘rich,’’ and ‘‘poor’’, “love” are vague.
There is a need for a law to be applied.
Example: ‘Poor’ means having an annual income of less than
$4,000.
 The terms ‘‘force,’’ ‘‘energy,’’ ‘‘acid,’’ ‘‘element’’, ‘‘number’’
‘‘equality,’’ ‘‘contract,’’ and ‘‘agent”, “rich”, “poor”, etc…
requires precise definition.
N.B: precise definition differs from stipulative definition in that
assignment of meaning in stipulative is arbitrary but not in
case of precise definition.
 Cont…

4. Theoretical Definition
 Assigns a meaning to a word by suggesting a theory that gives
a certain characterization to the entities that the term denotes.
 Can’t be evaluated as true/false.
 Not all theoretical definitions are associated with science

Example: ‘‘light’’ is a form of electromagnetic radiation.

• ‘‘F =MA.’’
• “Right” means approved by the gods.
• “Materialism” is a philosophical doctrine asserting
nothing exists but matter.
 Cont…

5. Persuasive Definition
 The purpose of a persuasive definition is to engender a
favorable or unfavorable attitude toward what is denoted by the
definiendum.
 To persuade/convince listeners/readers.
 To change the attitude of audiences.
 To win the acceptance of audiences.
 Usually contain emotionally charged or value laden words and
phrases to make them to accept the definition.
 Can be evaluated as true/false
 may exaggerate or diminish the definiendum.
 Cont…

Example:
“Federalism” is a political intrigue that provides
legitimate ground for the emergence of new regional
warlords.
“Abortion” means the ruthless murdering of innocent
human beings.
“Taxation” means the procedure by means of which
our common wealth is preserved and sustained.
 2.2 Techniques of intentional and extensional definitions

A. Techniques of Intentional Definition

 Provides a meaning to a term by describing the essential

characteristics or features possessed by the term being defined.
 At least four strategies may be used to indicate the attributes a
word connotes.

1. Synonymous Definition
 is one in which the definiens is a single word that connotes the
same attributes as the definiendum- that the definiens is a
synonym of the word being defined.
 Cont…

 Using a Word Having Identical Meaning.

Example: “Trouble” means difficulty.
“Student” means pupil.
‘‘Physician’’ means doctor.
‘‘Intentional’’ means willful.
‘‘Observe’’ means see.
 may be used to produce only lexical definitions
 2. Etymological definition

 Assigns a meaning to a word by disclosing the word‘s ancestry in

both its own language and other languages.
 Using root/ancestor words.
 To get the exact meaning of words by referring to its root
meaning.
 To have an access to the meaning of an entire group of related
words.
Example
 “Ethics” is from Greek word Ethos, meaning habit and tradition.
 “LOGIC” is from Greek word logos, means science of reasoning
 Relation with kinds of definitions, used to produce lexical
definitions
 3. Operational definition
 Assigns a meaning to a word by specifying certain experimental
procedures that determine whether or not the word applies to a certain
thing.
 Indicates actions and procedures
 Assigns experimental procedures
 Prescribes or instructs an operation to be performed
Example:
“Insane” means when a person lost control of his/her consciousness and
perform unusual things.
“Acid” means a substance that turns the color of blue litmus paper red, when
brouhgt contact with it.
Relation with Kinds of Definitions; Can serve as the method for
constructing stipulative, lexical (not always), précising, and persuasive
definitions.
 4. Definition by Genus and Differences

 Assigns a meaning to a term by identifying a genus term and

one or more difference words that, when combined, convey the
meaning of the term being defined.
 It is more generally applicable and achieves more adequate
results than any of the other kinds of intentional definition
 To explain how it works, we must first explain the meanings of
the terms ‘‘genus’’ ‘‘species’’ and specific ‘‘difference’’.
 Genus = relatively larger class.
 Species = relatively smaller sub-class of the genus
 Difference = attributes that distinguishes species within genus.
 Cont…

Species Difference Genus

“Mother” means female parent
“Ice” means frozen water
“Kitten” means young cat

Relation with Kinds of Definitions

 It is the most effective of the intentional definitions for producing
the five kinds of definition, namely, Stipulative, lexical, précising,
theoretical, and persuasive definitions.
 Lexical definitions are typically definitions by genus and
difference, but they also often include etymological definitions.
 Avoids ambiguity/vagueness of terms.
 B. Techniques of Extension

An extensional definition:
 Assigns a meaning to a term by indicating the members of the
class that the definiendum denotes.
 Provide meaning to a term by listing examples to the term which
is being defined.
 There are at least three ways of indicating the members of a class:
 By pointing physically to them(demonstrative or ostensive)
definitions
 By naming them individually (enumerative definitions), and
 By naming them in groups (definitions by subclass).
 Based on the ways of indicating members of the class we identify
three different kinds of definitions.
 Cont…
1. Demonstrative (Ostensive)
 Assigning meaning by point out an object.
Example: ‘‘Chair’’ means this and this and this—as you point to a
number of chairs, one after the other.
 “Flower” means this one (using a picture that
demonstrates flowers.)
Importance:
 To teach a foreigner your own native language assuming that neither
of you understood a word of each other’s language.
Limitation
 Cannot be used when the required objects do not be available for
being pointed at.
Example: if one wishes to define the word ‘‘sun’ and it happens to be
night time.
2. Enumerative:

 assign a meaning to a term by naming the members of the

class the term denotes.
 By listing partial/complete members of the class
Example:
 “Continent” means such as Africa, Asia, Latin America and
Europe
 “Athlete” means such as Kenenissa Bekele, Tirunesh
Dibaba, and Meseret Defar.
 3. Definition by Sub-class

 Assigns a meaning to a term by naming subclasses of the

class denoted by the term or by listing sub groups/sub-class.
Example:
 “Plant” means such as grasses, fruits and vegetable.
 “Vertebrate” means such as reptiles, birds, or mammals.
Techniques of Definition and their relationships with types of
definition

Techniques of Intentional definition

• Synonymous = can serve as a method of
constructing lexical definition
• Etymological = can serve as a method of
constructing lexical definition.
• Operational = for stipulative, theoretical, lexical (not
always), precise and persuasive
• Genus and difference = most effective to construct
all definitions.
 Techniques of Extensional Definition

 Extensional definitions are chiefly used as techniques for

producing lexical and stipulative definitions, and sometimes
theoretical and persuasive definition, but not precise
definition.

 Stipulative definitions may be accomplished by all three kinds

of extensional definition.
 2.4 Criteria for good lexical definition
 A Lexical Definition Should Conform to the Standards of Proper
Grammar
 A Lexical Definition Should Convey the Essential Meaning of
the Word Being Define
 A Lexical Definition Should Be Neither Too Broad nor Too
Narrow
 A Lexical Definition Should Avoid Circularity
 A Lexical Definition Should Not Be Negative When It Can Be
Affirmative
 A Lexical Definition Should Avoid Figurative, Obscure, Vague,
or Ambiguous Language
 A Lexical Definition Should Avoid Affective Terminology
 A Lexical Definition Should Indicate the Context to Which the
Definiens Pertains
THANK YOU!