Wan Shun-chuen. / Thesis submitted in: October 2003. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-81). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Domain of Study and Its Significance / Chapter 1.2 --- Central Statement / Chapter 1.3 --- Preliminaries / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Other Meaning Theories / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Meaning as Use / Chapter 1.3.3 --- "What ""Social"" Can Mean" / Chapter 1.4 --- Layout of the Essay / Chapter 2 --- The Social Nature of Meaning (Part One): Prior Agreement & Uniform Response --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1 --- Overview / Chapter 2.2 --- The Contractarian View / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Public Criteria / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Intersubjective checking / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Prior Agreement / Chapter 2.3 --- Criticism of the Contractarian View / Chapter 2.4 --- The Uniform Response View / Chapter 2.5 --- Summing-up / Chapter 3 --- The Social Nature of Meaning (Part Two): Background & Communication --- p.30 / Chapter 3.1 --- Overview / Chapter 3.2 --- Criticism of the Sceptical Solution: No One Checks the Community / Chapter 3.3 --- Meaning and Background / Chapter 3.4 --- Inferential Roles and Scorekeeping / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Meanings and Inferential Roles / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Scorekeeping / Chapter 3.5 --- Objections and Replies / Chapter 3.5.1 --- "One Thinker, Two Perspectives" / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Three Replies / Chapter 3.5.2.1 --- "An Exception, not the Norm" / Chapter 3.5.2.2 --- Interdependence between Social Articulation and Solitary Thinking / Chapter 3.5.2.3 --- Indirect Involvement / Chapter 4 --- Conclusion --- p.58 / Chapter 4.1 --- A Summary of the Central Question and the Thesis / Chapter 4.2 --- A Summary of the Main Arguments and Results / Chapter 4.3 --- A Preliminary Conclusion / Chapter 4.4 --- Additional Remarks on the Conclusion / Chapter 4.5 --- Postscript: A Suggestion for Further Research / References --- p.73

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-155).

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Over the past number of years, the study of language has been engaged in increasingly by a wide variety of academic disciplines and fields. Perhaps this bears witness to the growing appreciation of the pivotal role that language plays in our formation as individual persons, as peoples and as cultures. / As a particular kind of speech, liturgical language takes seriously the multi-dimensional nature of human reality, and, among other things, addresses itself to the profound questions of meaning posed by the human condition, as well as the 'needs' that arise in the posing of these questions. Further, as a rich communicative complex, liturgical language is itself multi-dimensional and multi-valent. This study is undertaken to investigate the meaning of this kind of language. To do this, the analytical 'lenses' of Ritual, Performative Language Theory, and Metaphor will be employed and discussed.

This thesis examines Michael Dummett's form of a theory of meaning for natural language. I argue that Dummett's extension of Frege's formal techniques to the semantics of natural language, based on the categories of sense, force and tone, and the centrality of truth, provides an inadequate theoretical account of linguistic competence. Part One examines the celebrated sense-force distinction. Dummett's schematic model of force-indicators and sentence-radicals ignores or mishandles semantic features of numerous ordinary expressions and linguistic forms. In many cases the distinction is blurred, and worse, univocity is sacrificed. A chief culprit is the restrictive nature of true-false polarity. The principal thesis that force attaches only to complete sentences is compromised, and Dummett's handling of force-indication fails to account for the distinct elements of word-order, verbal mood and intonation contour. In Part Two I attempt to distinguish genuine varieties of tone, inspecting the different differences among e.g., 'lift'-'elevator', 'cheekbone'-'zygoma', 'ere'- 'before 1 , 'Chinese'-'Chink', 'and'-'but 1 and others, as well as the contribution of adverbs like 'still' and 'almost'. Both Frege and Dummett consign to this general category many expressions which do not belong; for some other cases, tonality is a matter of use, but not meaning. Minimally, the sense-tone boundary needs redrawing. More accurately, the notion of sense, identified with the determination of truth-conditions, must either be broadened to incorporate some non-truth-conditional aspects of word-meaning, or else be replaced by another term possessing the broader role. In Part Three a single general characterization of meaning is advanced which accommodates both individual expressions and linguistic forms. I support the idea that a formulation in terms of a primitive notion of 'making things out to be a certain way', aligned with the poles of correctness and incorrectness, captures in a systematic way the expressions and forms which proved resistant to Dummett's canonical form of explanation.

Chapter 1. Wittgenstein's conception of Philosophy I begin by comparing Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy to Russell's, noting that they held different views of philo- sophy in relation to natural science. Wittgenstein's method of examples' is compared with the Socratic method. Might philosophy be different from what it in fact is? Wittgenstein was a philosopher of language; the theory of meaning as fundamental. Examples given of the Private Lan- guage Argument and the philosophy of mathematics. Recapitu- lation. Appendix 1. Translation of 'Ober Dogmatistnus' from Wittgenstein und der Wiener Xreis. (pp 182 - 184) Appendix 2. Translation of a chapter of the Big Typescript on the nature of philosophy (pp 406 - 435). Corresponding passages noted. Chapter 2 . Preliminary considerations in the Tractatus A sketch of the genesis of the Tractatus, showing that Wittgenstein placed great emphasis on the doctrine of showing and saying. Tractatus concerned with a perfect language? No, but with the conditions for any language. 'Ordinary' and 'logical' propositions in the Moore notes were not explained adequately. The possibility of 'semantic ascent' in relation to the doc- trine of saying and showing. Sketch of the picture theory. Explanation of the difference between 'abbilden', 'darstellen' and 'vertreten'. Discussion of isomorphism and the relation between language and ontology. Example taken of relation"of Names and Objects. Structure and form. Comparison with Frege, and Frege's problems with 'the concept horse'. Waismann's criticism of Frege's use of Bedeutung repudiated. [continued in text ...]

This qualitative study of women's responses to the organizing of Local 34 at Yale University provides an empirical grounding for feminist theorizing of women's generation of meaning. Based on interviews with clerical and technical workers, the study illuminates the relationship between experiences and meaning. Subjectivities of gender, race and class contribute to meanings made and actions taken by union supporters and opponents in the context of social change. / Building upon feminist theory, the study suggests that the relationship between experience and meaning is a basis for action. The interviews offer examples of women's negotiation of multiple subject positions as they seek to sustain their identities in their responses to the possibility for change represented by the union. The research method, itself an encounter between subjectivities, undergoes scrutiny as a meaning-generating practice with implications for feminist theory and politics. Assessment of the strategic value for feminism of identity politics points to the exclusionary effect of appealing to a unified identity against which subjectivities work, whereas a politics of location admits the many positions from and within which meanings are made. / The study builds upon and extends the analytic tools and insights of feminist theory and contributes to feminist strategies for social change. Rather than reinforcing the expected classifications of pro- and anti-union women, of working and middle-class women, of white women and women of color, this project calls for looking beyond these categories in order to build theories and practices that accommodate the specificity as well as the commonalities of women's lives.

Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-177).

Thesis (D.Phil.)--University of Oxford, 1962. / Supervisor: Mr D.F. Pears. Bibliography: leaves 389-391.