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This paper explores the relationship between language, philosophy, and computer sciences in defining concepts and meanings. It addresses the dichotomy between subjectivity and objectivity, and the role of language in mediating knowledge. The concepts of extensionality and intensionality are discussed, highlighting the limitations of both approaches. The paper introduces the idea of meaning holism, which suggests that the meaning of a word or expression is determined by its relations with other expressions in the language.
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Holism, ontologyand intensionality:new challenges Maria Daskalaki, Martin Doerr Center for Cultural Informatics Institute of Computer Science Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas Florence February, 2016
philosophy and computer sciences • Defining concepts: An old issue in the philosophical discussion • the crucial role of language • Computer sciences and definition of concepts: thecurrent form of the old philosophical question • Peculiarity of the current form of the issue: the use and management of knowledge is carried out through the mediation of an automated machine which is not in the position to self-act and grasp the different hues and usages of natural language. New field in philosophy concerning the digitized form of knowledge representation.
Language as an instrument or as a self-contained universe? • Language as the “logical space” which bind together the two competitive poles of the cognitive process, the subject and the external world. • Hence, the meanings, must not be seen in the background of a dualistic approach to the subjectivity and its objects but as a result of the “mediative” role of language. • Nevertheless the question remains: how do we define the meanings? • Philosophy was often driven to analyse language into its components refreshing, in that way, the dichotomy between the subjectivity and its objects.
Externalismvs internalism • The polarity between subject and object concerning the analysis of language resulted in the emergence of two competitive philosophical streams: externalism and internalism! • Approaching intensionality and extensionality in the light of internalism and externalism!
Extensionality • the extensionality of a term • is defined as the set of items for which it is true. • denotes the reference of a term, the range of its applicability by naming the particular items. • The definitions based on the extension are enumerative and formulate the meaning of a term by listing all the items that fall under that term. • The extension of the term 'cat ' is the set of all the cats in the world; the extension of 'red' is the set of all the red things and so on. • In fact, this type of definition can hardly be ‘a definition” since it says nothing more than “Balloo my cat is a cat”.
intensionality • The intension of a term is the sum of its properties, state of affairs, qualities etc. that constitute the necessary and sufficient conditions for being an extension of a term/concept. • For example, the intension of "bachelor" might be something like: adult, unmarried male. Being an adult, being unmarried, and being male are all necessary conditions for being a bachelor, and their conjunction is a sufficient condition. • This kind of definition is mainly based on the logico-analytical decomposition of the terms without a necessary connection to the real objects characterized by these properties. Problem: the number of terms whose necessary and sufficient conditions can be detected through the analytical and logical decomposition of their constituents without reference to the experience and realization of those terms is restricted.
Intensionality vs extensionality? • Both kinds of definitions are one-sided depicting that way the dichotomy between the subjectivity and its objects in the process of acquiring knowledge. • An alternative: Semantic/meaning holism
Background: the debate between externalism -internalism • Internalism: meanings comprised in natural language are internally accessible to the subject (in the heads of the subjects). • Semantic externalism: the world external to a language user is the only crucial thing in fixing the meaning. • Shortcomings: both views conceive language as one-sided phenomenon and can not grasp the process of forming and understanding the meanings in their totality.
Meaning holism: background • An indication in favor of holism: the fact that externalists disprove the view that the subjects act in a vacuum and perceive them through their interrelation with their environment and the other subjects, implicitly approve, at least, of the partial independency of the parts contributing to the process of forming the meaning. • In the late 19th - early 20th Gottlob Frege,claimed that a word acquires its meaning only within the context of an entire sentence. • In 1953 Wittgenstein in his philosophical investigationsstated that “comprehending a proposition means comprehending a language”.
Meaning holism • Meaning holism:the meaning of a word or expression lies in its relations with other expressions of the language in which it is embedded. • The words in a language can not be treated in isolation but are interdependent, and each statement in a language reflects the totality of its relationships to all other statements in this language (Hempel 1950: 59).
Clarifying the notion “holism” • Meaning holism rests on a paradox: the totality, although composed and affected by parts/elements/individuals, can not be reduced to them. • the totality seems to precede its parts in terms of priority, although the whole is the synthesis of the parts. • there is adialectic relationship between the whole and the parts! • An ontology that construes holism as a complexaggregation of parts that can be reduced to simple, separate individual elements, does not express the dialectical relationship penetrating the process of constructing and construing the meaning.
Dialectical approach of meaning holism: practical benefits The term is by itself a potential bearer of its context. We can decode its meaning simply by detecting its uses and relationships with other terms. Bottom-up method: the term is by itself a potential bearer of its context. The ideal tool to identify the meaning of the term and to conclude the appropriate definition of a term ( CIDOC-CRM). The inferential function: we can infer from the properties of a prior term other terms or properties with which the prior term is interrelated. This fact builds the basis for deducing potential from intentional properties!
Meaning holism: a difficulty The danger of Skepticism:the truth and accuracy of a terms’ definition can not be founded on anything that transcends the totality of the meaning established on the basis of effective use within a community of language users. Holism does not rely on anything else than a kind of an arbitrary agreement amongst language users within a certain community who are taught to use the language in a way that is acceptable by the very same community.
Holism and ontology or holism vs ontology? In the contemporary discussion about language and semantics very often holism and ontology are regarded as opposing views: Holism: stresses the complexitybetween the interrelated terms. Ontology: consists of reducing complexity to simple, separate elements. three definitions of ontology: Ontology is a term in philosophy and its meaning is “theory of existence''. Ontology is an explicit specification of conceptualization. Ontology is a body of knowledge describing some domain. Common ground: the search for fundamental properties!
Putnam’s “Twin Earth” Putnam’s “Twin Earth” thought experiment against skepticism resulted from internalism: “meanings' just ain't in the head.”
Bill Clinton and Twin-Clinton What if we consider Putnam’s “Twin Earth” experiment in the background of the conflict between holism and ontology? Millikan’s variant of the “Twin Earth” experiment: Clinton’s Family in “Twin-Earth” “The name ‘Bill Clinton’ that we use here on Earth has in its extension only one man. The same-sounding name on Twin Earth is a homonym”!
An appointment! Suppose that during this phone call earth Chelsea asks Twin Hillary to arrange for her to meet her father earth-Clinton, at a specific place and time. The earth-Chelsea will not meet her real father because her message, due to an accidental mistake was never conveyed to him but to twin-Clinton!
conclusions The formal similarities between terms are not enough in order to identify them. The decisive factor in identifying a term is the detection of its “causal relationships” or “causal history”. We do not conceive causality mechanically but as a sequence between events in time and space which allow us to plan our actions. Causality is observable. Causality is not in the head of a subject but refers to substances external to the subject. Causal relationship allows us to make inferences. Causality allow us to predict possible results form the existing states of affairs. Criterion for establishing causality between two entities is the successful prediction.
conclusions Any judgment concerning this kind of relation demands intersubjective approval. Causal relation connects substances the existence of which is unquestionable regardless of their interior structure. It is thus the substance of things which determines the causal relations that we detect in the external world and forms the basis on which we then construct our web of meanings.
conclusions We focus on the effects of things on us, which produce stable and intersubjectivley acceptable judgments. The effects of things on us indicate restrictions that the reality imposes to us. The restrictions that the reality impose to us can be seen, in an reverse way, as the revelation of the properties of the real things, on the basis of which we construct our world of meanings.
