intensionalism · noun — the belief that language acquires meaning from thought or belief, which is fundamentally non-linguistic, and that propositions are therefore independent of language.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Why “intensionalism” is a great word
Intensionalism is the philosophical doctrine that the meaning of language derives from non-linguistic mental content—thoughts, beliefs, and intentions—and that propositions therefore exist independently of the words used to express them. From intensional (relating to the internal content or connotation of a term) + -ism (denoting a system, theory, or doctrine). Unlike extensionalism, which reduces meaning to the set of objects a term applies to, or behaviorism, which locates meaning in observable stimulus-response patterns, intensionalism holds that meaning lives in the private theater of the mind. It is the conviction that two people naming the same planet think of 'Evening star' and 'Morning star' as distinct; that a mathematician's proof and a child's scrawl can share no visible sign yet mean identically; that the ghost of intention haunts every utterance, making language a translation not of the world but of consciousness itself—an infinite regress of minds trying to bridge the unbridgeable gap between what is thought and what is said.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From intensional + -ism.
noun
- The belief that language acquires meaning from thought or belief, which is fundamentally non-linguistic, and that propositions are therefore independent of language.e.g.“The first step in showing the irrelevance of Mates's problem is to separate Frege's intensionalism from intensionalism per se .” — 1986, Ernest LePore, Truth and Interpretation, page 62:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.