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LANGUAGE: MEANING & DEFINITION

LANGUAGE: MEANING & DEFINITION. FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE? Words Value Claim? E.g. The death penalty, which is legal in thirty-six states, has been carried out most often in Georgia; however, since 1977 Texas holds the record for the greatest number of executions.

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LANGUAGE: MEANING & DEFINITION

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  1. LANGUAGE: MEANING & DEFINITION • FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE? • Words • Value Claim? • E.g. • The death penalty, which is legal in thirty-six states, has been carried out most often in Georgia; however, since 1977 Texas holds the record for the greatest number of executions. • (INFORMATION/cognitive meaning) • The death penalty is a cruel and inhuman form of punishment in which hapless prisoners are dragged from their cells and summarily slaughtered only to satiate the bloodlust of a vengeful public. • (FEELINGS/ emotive meaning)

  2. PROBLEM: • Determining value claim: • Appearance of supporting evidence: • claim that something is good or bad • Too much attached with emotive terminologies? • emotion (“cloths” factual claim) • E.g. • “harvest” • Farmers • Surgeons • Loggers • “sargo” • Billiards • Pursue • “boljakin” • “shoot”

  3. EMOTIVE ARGUMENTS • make value claims about the subject matter: • without providing evidence. • tends to crush potential counterarguments • Function of counterarguments? • E.g. • Now that we know that the rocks on the moon are similar to those in our backyard and that tadpoles can exist in a weightless environment, and now that we have put the rest of the world in order, can we concentrate on the problems here at home? Like what makes people hungry and why is unemployment so elusive? • FACTUAL MESSAGE? (SEATWORK)

  4. Now that we know that the rocks on the moon are similar to those in our backyard and that tadpoles can exist in a weightless environment, and now that we have put the rest of the world in order, can we concentrate on the problems here at home? Like what makes people hungry and why is unemployment so elusive?

  5. HOW TO SPOT AN EMOTIVE ARGUMENT? ARE THEY DEFECTIVE? MISLEADING/ NOT DIRECT TO THE POINT

  6. COGNITIVE ARGUMENTS BECOME DEFECTIVE VAGUE TERM AMBIGUOUS TERM

  7. CONCEPT’S EXTENSION IS UNCLEAR TERM NEEDS A PRECISE DEFINITION PRECISE DEFINITION SHOULD ANSWER THE DEMANDED SITUATION/ CONTEXT TERM USED HAS A WIDE RANGE OF INTERPRETATION (ARBITRARY) E.G. “FRESH” HOW FRESH DOES SOMETHING HAVE TO BE IN ORDER TO BE CALLED “FRESH”?

  8. VAGUE STATEMENTS • E.g. • ‘‘Today our job situation is more transparent.’’ • First, what is the meaning of ‘‘job situation’’? • Does it refer to finding a job, keeping a job, filling a job, completing a job, or bidding on a job? • And what exactly does it mean for a job situation to be ‘‘transparent’’? • Does it mean that the job is more easily perceived or comprehended? That the job is more easily completed? That we can anticipate our future job needs more clearly? Or what else? • Trouble? • A word is not sufficiently precise for what the situation demands.

  9. MEANING OF A TERM CANNOT BE DEFINITELY RESOLVED ACCORDING TO A PROCESS OR A RULE 2 OR MORE CLEARLY DISTINCT MEANINGS IN A GIVEN CONTEXT

  10. LIGHT BEER? LIGHT IN COLOR MORALLY? LIGHT IN CALORIES SOCIALLY? LIGHT IN TASTE

  11. AMBIGUOUS STATEMENTS • E.g. • A newspaper headline that read, ‘‘Tuna are biting off the Washington coast.’’ • Does this mean that the tuna are nibbling away at the coastline or that fishermen are catching them off the coast? • ‘‘College students are turning to vegetables.’’ • Does this mean that the students are metamorphosing into vegetables or that they are incorporating more vegetables into their diet?

  12. VERBAL DISPUTES • 2 INDIVIDUALS IN CONFLICT BECAUSE OF AN ARGUMENT • Vague & ambiguous • E.g. • CLAUDIA: Mrs.Wilsonabuses her children. And how do I know that? I saw her spank one of her kids the other day after the kid misbehaved. • JANE: Don’t be silly. Kids need discipline, and by disciplining her children, Mrs.Wilson is showing that she loves them. • Here the problem surrounds the vagueness of the words ‘‘abuse’’ and ‘‘discipline.’’

  13. BRENDA: I’m afraid that Smiley is guilty of arson. Last night he confided to me that he was the one who set fire to the old schoolhouse. • WARREN: No, you couldn’t be more mistaken. In this country no one is guilty until proven so in a court of law, and Smiley has not yet even been accused of anything. • In this case the dispute arises over the ambiguity of the word ‘‘guilty.’’ • Brenda is using the word in the moral sense. • Warren, on the other hand, is using the word in thelegal sense

  14. FACTUAL DISPUTES • Disputes: meaning of language • verbal disputes: vague or ambiguous • Disputes: disagreement about facts • factual disputes. • HOW TRUE THE CLAIM IS? TERMS ARE CLEAR. • E.g. • KIT: I know that Freddie stole a computer from the old schoolhouse. Barbara told me that she saw Freddie do it. • NARDO: That’s ridiculous! Freddie has never stolen anything in his life. Barbara hates Freddie, and she is trying to pin the theft on him only to shield her criminal boyfriend.

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