'Purpose' and 'meaning'

 Among the many failures in my education was my first lesson on the dictionary.

I was told that words had meanings and the meanings could be found in the dictionary. The problem is not one of fact but of concept.

I imagined that meanings have some existence independent of us — you and me, the people involved in this conversation. I thought that meanings live, independently of our activities, in some ideal place. 

We share words, use them in common. But the use of the words is their existence, and we frequently use words in ways that stretch or exceed the definitions in dictionaries.

A better way of looking at it: Words that we use accumulate meaning. It’s more like accretion, and if that suggests a slow process, I think that’s generally true. It’s often so slow we don’t really notice. It’s one of the reasons that we find ourselves, later in life, “ready” to read someone we couldn’t read earlier.

Recent notes have been about J.L Austin and Ordinary Language Philosophy. Borrowing from Austin’s method, I took a stab at the distinction between meaning and purpose.

The dictionary was not that helpful, especially compared this:

 

Purpose determines what I will do with this part of my life. Meaning demands to know why I’m doing it and with what global results.

 

That’s Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, going beyond the dictionary.

I think we all do that — that is, I think that’s the way we use language. If the conversation gets beyond a basic level, we define terms for ourselves and try to show how looking at it in that way is useful.

Austin always went to the dictionary first. Then he looked for examples of usage. He found law to be a rich source. Austin was a classicist, and classicists find a lot in nomos, the Greek word usually translated law. The word also was used in the sense of usage, custom and ordinary (or decent) behavior. A law was not generally something that was written down — it was what decent people habitually do.

Insights from law are helpful in many cases, but the usage of some words is made clearer from discussions about art or religion, as in the case above. The Greek psyche and pneuma are often interesting to artistic and religious thinkers — and both kinds of thinkers are prone to speak of inspiration.
Chittister says that purpose is about goals and productivity. Meaning is about who cares — who is helped or hurt by an intended action. Those are her distinctions, not the dictionary’s.

Her claim seems like the start of a conversation to me.

• Sources and notes: Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B., Wisdom Distilled from the Daily; New York: HarperOne, 1991, p. 102.

M.W. Rowe, J.L. Austin: Philosopher & D-Day Intelligence Officer; Oxford University Press, 2023. My notes on this book begin with “Reading your way into it,” Nov. 6, 2023.

If the gist of this post sounds familiar, see “A lexicon of words that mean trouble,” Oct. 30, 2023.