DIRECTIVAL THEORY OF MEANING AND THE PROBLEM OF INTERSUBJECTIVITY Cover Image

DIREKTIVNA TEORIJA ZNAČENJA I PROBLEM INTERSUBJEKTIVNOSTI
DIRECTIVAL THEORY OF MEANING AND THE PROBLEM OF INTERSUBJECTIVITY

Author(s): Radmila Jovanović Kozlowski
Subject(s): Epistemology, Contemporary Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Published by: Filozofsko društvo Srbije
Keywords: Ajdukijewicz; Wittgenstein; rule following; directival theory of meaning; conventionalism;

Summary/Abstract: In the early thirties of the twentieth century Wittgenstein advanced his new conception of language based on the idea of rule following. It is less known that at the same time (and as far as I can tell, independently) Ajdukijewicz developed himself an idea of the language meaning related to the rule following activity, which he used in defence of radical conventionalism. Tadeusz Czarnecki analyses papers of two philosophers both published in 1934, and offers a critique of Ajdukijewicz’s theory of meaning. He claims that while Wittgenstein has in his philosophical arsenal the means to assure intersubjectivity of meaning, Ajdukijewicz fails in that respect. In this paper I want to show that this critique is ill- placed. I will claim that the interpretation of Ajukijewicz’s directival theory of meaning offered by Czarnecki is not accurate because it is neglecting some important aspects of Ajdukijewicz’s conventionalist position.

  • Issue Year: 65/2022
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 5-16
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Serbian