Traditional Misunderstanding of "Meaning not Fully Expressed by Language" and a Correction from the Perspective of Philosophy of Language

Zhao Jianzhang, Zhao Yingfang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4) : 177-187.

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Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4) : 177-187.
Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Criticism

Traditional Misunderstanding of "Meaning not Fully Expressed by Language" and a Correction from the Perspective of Philosophy of Language

  • Zhao Jianzhang, Zhao Yingfang
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Abstract

The preposition that meaning is not fully expressed by language is a mystification of the relationship between meaning and language. There is no consciousness and language in the undivided state of the subject and the object, and therefore there are no issues of the speakable and the unspeakable. The understanding of the relationship between language and meaning in traditional thought is based on the theory of simple reflection, holding that thought is the conformity to the world and the language is the conformity to thought. From the perspective of modern philosophy of language, thought is human's understanding of the world, and the world is understood on the basis of language. Consciousness and thought are not something ready-made, but rather the construction of language. The view that meaning is not fully expressed by language implies that there is a private language, but such a language independent from common language has no meaning. This view that meaning is not fully expressed by language means in a sense language cannot substitute the reality or our perception of the reality, but it has no meaning in philosophy.

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meaning not fully expressed by language / consciousness / thought / language / philosophy of language

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Zhao Jianzhang, Zhao Yingfang. Traditional Misunderstanding of "Meaning not Fully Expressed by Language" and a Correction from the Perspective of Philosophy of Language[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2017, 37(4): 177-187

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(1)此处引文使用了陈嘉映在《语言与哲学》(北京:三联书店,1996年)中的译文。
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