Reference-based theories of language presuppose a mind with direct access to reality
Evidence
To appreciate the force of this argument we must consider the kind of philosophy of language presupposed by the metaphysics of preĀ sence. It is constituted, paradoxically, by a question-mark over language itself. Consciousness, according to the myth of the given, has direct access to reality and therefore has no need of a discursive intermediary. Signification is dispensable, at best a convenience, useful as an aid to memory or a means to economy of thought, at worst an impurity that clouds our vision. This epistemology renders plausible an atomistic conception of language, in which words signify individually by virtue of their reference to an object (or, in some versions, an idea which in turn stands for or is caused by an object). They are attached to their referents by a mind already acquainted with these objects or ideas. Such a theory of meaning is to be found in both the empiricisms and the rationalisms of the seventeenth century, in Lockeās Essay as well as the Port Royal Logic. ā Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 306
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies how the metaphysics of presence entails an atomistic, reference-based theory of meaning, linking epistemology to philology.