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The Relativity of Meaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Bertel Wahlström
Bertel Wahlström
Affiliation:
Åbo Akademi, Finland
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Extract

Like so many of the concepts in our everyday language the concept of meaning is one which has a multitude of different applications. In the continuing debate within social anthropology and philosophy about how we are to understand ritual behaviour and religious customs in general among people in pre-literate cultures, advocates of different views have sought to explain the meaning of the beliefs in such cultures. In speaking of the meaning of beliefs these scholars use the concept in ways that vary to some extent depending on how, in a wider perspective, they look upon religion and magic in primitive societies. One example of a particular way of looking at the beliefs and practices of alien peoples is the standpoint of John Skorupski. In his article, ‘The Meaning of Another Culture's Beliefs’, he argues for a theory of meaning, or principle of interpretation, which he calls classical and realist in its semantic aspects, and which relies on an intellectualist sociology of thought.

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Articles
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Religious Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , June 1986, pp. 205 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

page 205 note 1 In Action and Interpretation, ed. by Hookway, C. and Pettit, P. (1978), pp. 83–106.Google Scholar

page 205 note 2 Skorupski, , ‘The Meaning of Another Culture's Beliefs’, in Action and Interpretation, ed. by Hookway, C. and Pettit, P.. Cf. p. 106.Google Scholar

page 206 note 1 Cf. ibid. p. 88.

page 206 note 2 Cf. ibid. pp. 83 f.

page 206 note 3 Cf. ibid. p. 84.

page 206 note 4 Cf. ibid. p. 88.

page 207 note 1 Cf. ibid. pp. 89 f.

page 207 note 2 Cf. ibid. p. 90.

page 207 note 3 ibid

page 207 note 4 Cf. ibid. pp. 90 f.

page 207 note 5 Cf. ibid. p. 91. One would prefer the verb ‘utter’ in connection with the word ‘sentence’ which Skorupski uses instead of ‘proposition’.

page 208 note 1 Ibid p. 92.

page 208 note 2 Cf. ibid.

page 208 note 3 Cf. ibid. pp. 92 f.

page 208 note 4 Cf. ibid. pp. 93 f.

page 209 note 1 Cf. p. 96.

page 209 note 2 Winch, P., ‘Understanding a Primitive Society’, in Ethics and Action (1972);Google Scholar‘Language, Belief and Relativism’, Contemporary British Philosophy, ed by Lewis, H. D. (1976).Google Scholar

page 209 note 3 Cf. Skorupski, , p. 97.Google Scholar

page 209 note 4 Winch, , 1972, p. 12;Google Scholar cf. Skorupski, , p. 97.Google Scholar

page 210 note 1 Skorupski, , p. 91.Google Scholar

page 211 note 1 Cf. ibid., esp. p. 87.

page 211 note 2 Ibid p. 95.

page 211 note 3 Ibid

page 212 note 1 Ibid p. 91.

page 212 note 2 Wittgenstein, , Über Gewissheit [On Certainty] (1979). Cf. § 96.Google Scholar

page 212 note 3 Cf. Winch, , 1976, pp. 334 f.Google Scholar

page 213 note 1 Cf. Wittgenstein, , § 167.Google Scholar

page 215 note 1 Phillips, D., ‘Faith, Scepticism and Religious Understanding’, in Religion and Understanding, (ed.) Phillips, D. Z. (1967), Cf p. 67.Google Scholar

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page 216 note 1 Ibid

page 216 note 2 Ibid p. 95.

page 216 note 3 Cf. ibid p. 105.

page 216 note 4 Ibid

page 217 note 1 Ibid