________________
evolves in a hearers' or readers mind. 'Elephant', when uttered or read, the picture of the elephant flashes in the mind. It is a kind of effect that the word inflicts. But thinking is not equal to picturizing. One may think of honesty but cannot picturize it. Hence mental picture is a part of word's effect on the person but it is not exactly what the word means.
The conception that the appearances of the world are self-revelatory was something Wittgenstein shared with Goethe who saw nature as 'Expressive Phenomena'. Wittgenstein says- meanings cannot be explained, but are read off from the phenomena or brought into clarity by conceptual rearrangement of grammar, by cultural empathy or by reminding us of what we normally do or say."
Another concept of Wittgenstein, Form of life is relevant here to quote which depicts that the meaning of any word or sentence depends on the form of life one is living. It is difficult to understand by other person of another form of life. As a engineer says the worker-Brick' and he brings it but if he had said it to a unknown person, he would have got confused to derive the meaning what speaker really want to sav. Living
similar form of life may help to communicate more successfully. But the problem with this concept is its limitation to the people of particular group where as our communication is not concerned with the limited group. Hence we need certain open criteria which can be applied any time and anywhere and chances of miscommunication can be averted.
Language is a system of defferences in which signs mean only in relation to each other. Because signs therefore always contain traces of Other signs, they have no 'essential meaning of their own. Looking a word up in a dictionary leads to other words that you need to look up; we are always presented with further signs. So meaning is forever deferred. At the same time any sign is meaningful only through deferentiation (red means 'stop' because green means "go'). So deferences ferance refers both the passive state of being different and the activity of producing deferences'. !
If words are normally learned within the context in which they are properly used and they have meaning only with in that context consequently it is meaningless, if they are used outside that context. Suppose someone says this object is above the universe or above the time."
48
C
i
uşit 31 141
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
