Thought and Language

1
Thought and Language

• The Way Words Work

2
Intension and Extension

• Intension refers to the general properties of a
  word, the qualities possessed in common by all
  objects that the term covers. It refers to the
  distinguishing traits or features by virtue of
  which a word applies to particular things. For
  example, all objects called trees must be woody
  perennial plants with a long main stem and
  branches because that is the intensional meaning
  of the word tree. Anything that we call a tree
  must have these characteristics or we are using
  the word incorrectly.
• When we dont know the meaning of a word and look
  it up in the dictionary, the intension of the
  word is usually listed.

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Intension and Extension II

• The intension of a general term is the set of
  attributes shared by all and only those objects
  to which the term refers. These attributes
  constitute the intensional meaning of the term
  they provide the criteria for deciding whether an
  object falls within the extension of a term. We
  know the meaning of a term in this sense without
  knowing all the objects to which it applies.

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Intension and Extension III

• General terms have both an extension and an
  intension. The extension of a general term (also
  called the denotation of the term) is the
  collection of all the objects to which the term
  applies. The general term "planet" for example
  applies equally to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
  Earth. These objects, and all others to which the
  term may be correctly applied, constitute the
  extensional meaning of the term "planet." To say
  that all planets have elliptical orbits, is, in
  this sense, to assert that Mars has an elliptical
  orbit, and Venus has an elliptical orbit, and
  Jupiter has an elliptical orbit, and so on.

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Intension and Extension IV

• When attributes are added to the intension of a
  term we say that the intension increases. In the
  following sequence of terms, the intension of
  each is included within the intension of the term
  following it person, person that is a
  student, person that is an IPFW student,
  person that is an IPFW student taking a logic
  class. The intension of each is greater than
  the intension of those preceding it in the
  sequence the terms are arranged in order of
  increasing intension. But if we turn to the
  extensions of those terms, we find the reverse to
  be the case. The extension of person is
  greater than that of person that is a student,
  and so on, and the terms are arranged in order of
  decreasing extension.

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Intension and Extension V

• Some logicians have been led to formulate a law
  of inverse variation, asserting that extension
  and intension always vary inversely. This is not
  always correct. Copi points out that we could
  construct a series of terms in order of
  increasing intension, where the extension does
  not increase but remains the same. Consider this
  series living person, living person weighing
  less than ten thousand pounds, living person
  weighing less than ten thousand pounds and less
  than a million years old, and so forth. These
  terms are clearly in order of increasing
  intension, but the extension of them is the same.
  

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Intension and Extension VI

• Instead of the law of inverse variation, the
  correct law asserts that, if terms are arranged
  in order of increasing intension, their
  extensions will be in non-increasing order that
  is, if the extensions vary, they will vary
  inversely with the intensions.
• Some extensions, such as mermaids, are empty.
  Sometimes, as in the case of mermaid, there are
  no real objects to which the word applies.
  Nevertheless, we know how to use the word because
  of its intensional meaning.

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Intension and Extension VII

• Using our distinction between intension and
  extension, fallacious aguments that play upon tha
  ambiguity of the term meaning may be exposed.
  For example
• The word God is not meaningless therefore it
  has a meaning. But by definition, the word God
  means a being who is all-powerful and supremely
  good. Therefore that all-powerful and supremely
  good being, God, must exist.
• The equivocation is on the words meaning and
  meaningless, which refers in one sense to the
  intension, and in another sense to the extension,
  of the same term. The word God is not
  meaningless, and so there is an intension that
  has its meaning. But it does not follow from
  the fact that a term has an intension that it
  denotes any existent thing.

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Extensional Definitions

• A terms extension is the complete list of the
  items, cases and so forth to which you could
  correctly apply the term. That means that the
  denotative definition of a term is the statement
  of its extension. If you define extensionally,
  then you list everything to which the term
  applies.
• Since virtually everything we run into can be
  seen as an example of many different
  classifications, these partial enumerations
  (which identify individual by individual) always
  seem to be subject to multiple interpretations.
• Sometimes this sort of confusion can be minimized
  by listing groups of things instead of
  individuals. For example, we might define
  vertebrate to mean amphibians and birds and
  fishes and mammal and reptiles.

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Extensional Definitions II

• A definition by subclass assigns a meaning to a
  term by naming subclasses of the class denoted by
  the term. Such a definition, too, may be either
  partial or complete, depending on whether the
  subclass named, when taken together, include all
  the members of the class or only some of them.
  Some more examples
• Tree means pine, oak, maple, and the like.
• Dog means Cocker Spaniel, German Shepard,
  Australian Sheepdog and the like.
• Fictional work means either a poem, play, a
  novel, or a short story.
• The first two definitions are partial, the third
  is complete.

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Extensional Definitions III

• A special kind of definition by example is the
  ostensive or demonstrative definition. Instead of
  naming or describing the objects denoted by the
  term being defined, an ostensive definition
  refers to the examples by means of pointing, or
  by some other gesture. Ostensive definitions are
  invariably ambiguous, however, because to point
  to an object is also to point to a part of it, or
  to any of its attributes.

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Extensional Definitions IV

• So an extensional definition is showing some or
  all members of a set. The alphabet is
  a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,I,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y
  ,z
• An ostensive definition might be

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Extensional Definitions V

• Quasi-ostensive definitions attempt to resolve
  this ambiguity by adding a descriptive phrase to
  the definiens. But this presupposes a prior
  understanding of the descriptive phrase,
  defeating the purpose of the ostensive
  definition.

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Extensional Definitions VI

• Extensional definitions have serious
  shortcomings. First, as noted in the preceding
  section, extensional definitions fail to
  distinguish between two terms that have the same
  denotation (extension) but different intensions.
• A classic example is 'the morning star' and 'the
  evening star' both of which refer to the same
  thing, the planet 'Venus', but the sense of
  'morning star' and 'evening star' is not the
  same.

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Extensional Definitions VII

• Second, very few terms can have their extensions
  completely enumerated, so extensional definitions
  must generally be restricted to partial
  enumerations.
• For example, all natural numbers would be
  infinite.

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Extensional Definitions VIII

• Third, any given object has many attributes and
  is therefore included in the extension of many
  different general terms. So any object listed as
  an example of a term in an extensional definition
  will also be an example of some other term and
  cannot help us distinguish the meanings of those
  terms.
• Suppose someone we're asked to define "movie
  star" and responded like this
• Well, there is Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, Julia
  Roberts and Will Smith. They are all movie
  stars, but they are also all humans, all
  entertainers, and so forth.

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Intensional Definition

• The word intension may seem strange. If so it
  is probably because you are confusing it with its
  homonym (same sounding word) intention.
  Intention means, roughly, purpose, goal, or,
  end intension means the sum total of the
  properties shared by all and only things
  identified by a specific term. For philosophers,
  the term connotation is often used as if it were
  synonymous with intension. Some confusion may
  occur because connotation is also sometimes
  used to mean the total significance of a term.
  As we already learned, connotation is sometimes
  used to mean the emotive intent alone. To avoid
  accidental confusion of terms, they choose to use
  intension rather than connotation.

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Intensional Definitions II

• The intension of a term consists of the
  attributes shared by all the objects denoted by
  the term, and shared only by those objects. To
  develop useful intensional definitions, however,
  we need to distinguish three senses of intension
  subjective, objective, and conventional.
• The subjective intension of a general term is the
  set of all attributes that a speaker or writer
  believes to be possessed by objects denoted by
  that term. It is an individual's private
  understanding different from individual to
  individual and even from time to time for the
  same individual. The purpose of definitions,
  however, is to reveal the public, not the
  private, meanings of words.

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Intensional Definitions III

• The objective intension of a general term is the
  total set of characteristics shared by the
  objects in the term's extension. But one would
  have to be all-knowing to know all the attributes
  shared by a set of objects. And some attributes,
  although part of the objective intension of a
  term, may be obscure and irrelevant to most
  people who use the term.

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Intensional Definitions IV

• The conventional intension of a general term
  consists of the commonly understood attributes of
  the objects it denotes, the conventionally agreed
  upon criteria we use in deciding, about any
  object, whether it is part of the term's
  extension. For the purposes of definition, this
  is the most important sense of-and what is
  generally meant by- intension.

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Intensional Definitions V

• There are several techniques of intensional
  definition, that is, for identifying the
  conventional intension of a general term. These
  include
• Synonymous definition
• Operational definition
• Definition by genus and difference

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Intensional Definitions VI

• A synonymous definition is one in which the
  definiens is a single word that connotes the same
  attributes as the definiendum. In other words,
  the definiens is a synonym of the word being
  defined. Examples
• Physician means doctor.
• Intention means willful.
• Other examples
• For example, to define honesty we could list
  truthfulness, frankness or candor for humorous
  we could list funny, comical, or amusing. Of
  course, the synonym must be a word that is
  understood, otherwise the meaning of the original
  word will not be clarified. Thus the
  effectiveness of a synonym definition depends on
  the readers stock in trade the larger his or
  her vocabulary, the more effective the synonym is
  likely to be in explaining the meaning of a word.
  

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Intensional Definitions VII

• In such definitions the word that is presented as
  synonymous should be as close as possible in
  meaning to the word that we are trying to define.
  No two words will have identical meanings, of
  course, otherwise they would be the same word and
  one would drop out of the language as
  superfluous.

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Intensional Definitions VIII

• Thesauruses specialize in listing synonyms, and
  there are dictionaries of antonyms, words with
  opposite meanings, as well. Any words listed as
  synonymous would have roughly the same meaning,
  and they will range from close approximations to
  words with fairly remote connections.
• For example, if we are looking for synonyms for
  dog we might find listed pooch and mutt.
  Likewise, synonym definitions for female,
  depending on the context might include woman,
  lady, dame , chick, and so forth. From
  the array of choices we must select the synonym
  that best expresses what we wish to convey,
  because the intension, extension, and emotive
  meaning may be different.

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Intensional Definitions IX

• An operational definition assigns a meaning to a
  word by specifying certain experimental
  procedures that determine whether or not the word
  applies to a certain thing. Examples
• A potential difference exists between two
  conductors if and only if a voltmeter shows a
  reading when connected to the two conductors.
• A psychologist who wanted to study the effect of
  hunger on some aspect of behavior would need a
  consistent definition of the term "hunger" that
  would be meaningful to other researchers who
  might want to replicate her results. She might
  then define "hunger" operationally in terms of
  the length of time her subjects had been deprived
  of food.

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Intensional Definitions X

• Definition by genus and difference - A type of
  intensional definition of a term that first
  identifies the larger class ("genus") of which
  the definiendum is a species or subclass, and
  then identifies the attribute ("difference") that
  distinguishes the members of that species from
  members of all other species in that genus.

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Intensional Definitions XI

• Examples
• A house is a building (genus) in which people
  live (difference). A mansion is a house (genus)
  that is large and imposing (difference). A hovel
  is a house (genus) that is small and wretched
  (difference).
• Note that in the first example "house" is a
  species relative to the genus "building." In the
  second and third examples, "house" is a genus
  relative to the species "mansion" and "hovel."

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Intensional Definitions XIII

• More examples

Species Difference Genus
Husband means married man
Skyscraper means very tall building
ice means frozen water
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Connotation

• Connotation refers to the emotional associations
  surrounding a word, its overtones or colorations
  that affect our feelings and attitudes.
• The explicit meaning of a word is one thing the
  way it resonates within us is quite another, and
  that is connotation.
• In shaping attitudes the choice of words matter a
  great deal because of their connotative
  dimension. Bertrand Russell recognized this when
  he declined firm as I am firm, you are
  obstinate, he is stubborn (and they are
  pigheaded).

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Euphemisms and Dysphemisms

• Euphemisms are words with favorable or agreeable
  connotations, from the Greek eu-, good, and
  pheme, speech.
• A government is likely to pay a price for
  initiating a revenue enhancement, but voters
  will be even quicker to respond to a tax hike.
• The opposite of a euphemism is a dysphemism.
  Dysphemisms are used to produce a negative effect
  on a listeners or readers attitude toward
  something or to tone down the positive
  associations it may have.
• Isnt the real reason the House of
  Representatives wont render an impartial finding
  in any impeachment hearings that it has become a
  snake pit war room?
• Snake pit and war roomare dysphemisms.

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• Moore and Parker Once youre familiar with the
  ways slanting devices are used to try and
  influence us, you may be tempted to dismiss a
  claim or argument just because it contains
  strongly slanted language. But true claims as
  well as false ones, good reasoning as well as
  bad, can be couched in such language. Remember
  that the slanting itself gives us no reason to
  accept a position on an issue that doesnt mean
  that there are no such reasons.

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Connotations Revisited

• Select the word with the appropriate connotation
  to fill the blanks in this sentence
• (Divorced, unmarried) man ________ (past his
  prime, in his golden years) seeks relationship
  with a _______ (mature, over the hill) woman who
  is sensitive and __________ (independent,
  wealthy).

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Vagueness

• Vague words or expressions lack clarity and
  distinctness, so that we dont know whether they
  apply in a given case. The limits of their
  application are fuzzy, and we are uncertain about
  what they include and exclude. Almost all words
  are vague to some extent, and in most cases this
  does not interfere with their meaning. Language
  is labeled vague only when it is unnecessarily
  imprecise, when the intension does not allow us
  to identify the extension. Then we criticize
  usage and vagueness becomes a charge.
• For example, suppose we ask a used car
  salesperson how much a car costs and we are told
  its a bargain, a very good deal, less expensive
  than we might think, priced to move, sure to save
  us money, and so forth. Because the car
  salesperson is not giving us a price, he or she
  is probably trying to make us think that that the
  car is cheaper than it really is the vagueness
  is deliberate and meant to trick us.

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Vagueness II

• On the other hand, the question How much do you
  love me? cannot be answered in numbers. Replies
  such as as much as you deserve or not wisely
  but too well are perfectly appropriate.
• If we want to measure how happy a person is, we
  are demanding what Aristotle called greater
  exactitude than the subject matter will allow.
• Vagueness is not always negative.
• You must not know too much, or be too precise or
  scientific about birds and trees and flowers and
  watercraft a certain free margin, and even
  vagueness perhaps ignorance, credulity helps
  your enjoyment of these things. Walt Whitman

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Vagueness III

• In some contexts, of course, it becomes extremely
  important to reduce the vagueness of words as
  much as possible. If food stamps are offered to
  the poor, defining who exactly is poor can make
  a significant difference in peoples lives.

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Ambiguity

• In ambiguity a word contains several meanings,
  and we are uncertain which one is meant. We are
  confused about the word, phrase, sentence, or
  passage because it can be understood in more than
  one sense.
• One traditional distinction that is made among
  types of ambiguity is between semantic and
  syntactic forms. Semantic ambiguity has to do
  with the multiple meanings of a word as it
  appears in a sentence, either once or twice. To
  take a couple of light examples, Our druggists
  dispense with accuracy Bikinis now sold for a
  ridiculous figure.

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Ambiguity II

• Semantic ambiguity can be more serious, though.
  The Second Amendment to the Constitution states,
  a well-regulated militia being necessary to the
  security of a free state, the right of the people
  to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
  Does this mean that only militia such as the
  National Guard are allowed to have arms, or that
  every citizen has the right to own a gun ( and
  all gun control laws are unconstitutional)?
  Serious debate has occurred as different people
  interpret the Second Amendment in different ways.
  

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Syntactic Ambiguity

• Syntactic ambiguity occurs when the grammatical
  arrangement of words makes the meaning of a
  sentence unclear. The meaning of each word may
  be clear, but we cannot understand the overall
  sense. Here are a few examples
• Eat here and get gas.
• Save soap and waste paper (a World War II
  slogan).
• If you think are waitresses are rude, you should
  see our manager.

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Semantic Ambiguity and accent

• Under the broad category of semantic ambiguity
  the phenomenon of accent should be mentioned.
  Here ambiguity occurs because it is unclear which
  word in a sentence is being accented or
  emphasized.
• A defense lawyer once asked a coroner, How many
  autopsies have you performed on dead bodies? He
  replied, All of my autopsies were on dead
  bodies. The attorney wanted to know the number
  of autopsies that had been performed, and the
  coroner assumed that he was asking whether all of
  his autopsies had been done on corpses. The
  misunderstanding occurred because different parts
  of the question were stressed.