Sense and reference (1892)

Distinction between Sinn and Bedeutung made by the German mathematician Gottlob Frege (1848-1925). The meaning of an expression (sense) is a property of language, and is not to be equated with the object or concept the expression may be used to refer to: ‘the morning star’ and ‘the evening star’ have different meanings (‘senses’) but both

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Sensationalism

Also called sensationism, it is associated with Ernst Mach (1838-1916) and various other empiricists of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Either the theory that only sensations exist in what appears to be the material world, everything else being constructed by the methods of phenomenalism; or the theory that all our knowledge must start with sensations,

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Truth conditional semantics (1967)

A variant of the correspondence theory, and akin to the redundancy theory. It was developed by the Polish logician Alfred Tarski (1902-1983), and applied to language by British philosopher Donald Davidson. (Also see: MONTAGUE GRAMMAR.) Semantic theory for sentences rather than words (also see: LEXICAL SEMANTICS). We know the meaning of a sentence if we know the

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Semantics (EARLY 20TH CENTURY)

Numerous contributors from both disciplines. The study of meaning in natural language. ‘Meaning’ is an elusive concept which modern linguists tackle by dispersing into other fundamental ideas such as IMPLICATURE, MEANING-NN, sense and reference, VALUE. Also see: theories of meaning, LEXICAL SEMANTICS, STRUCTURAL SEMANTICS, truth-conditional semantics Source: J Lyons, Semantics (Cambridge, 1977) Linguistics Main article: Semantics (linguistics) In linguistics,

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Semantic atomism

Theory that the meaning of a phrase or sentence can be analyzed into, and can be constructed out of, the meanings of its constitute words. These meanings can be accounted for independently, and function as atoms of meaning. Similarly, the theory will analyze the meaning of complex sentences in terms of the meanings of

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Saul Kripke

Saul Kripke is an American philosopher now emeritus from (Princeton) and professor of philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center. He is best known for his attack on the descriptivist (Fregean, Russellian) theory of reference with respect to proper names, according to which a name refers to an object by virtue of the name’s being associated

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Saint Teresa of Avila

Ideas – God dwells within the soul. – The soul travels within herself tou nite with God. – One image for the soul is an interior castle with many mansions. – By practicing mental prayer, the soul enters the interior castle. – The first three mansions correspond to the purgative way, where the beginner

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Saint John of the Cross

Ideas – Substantial union with God is that by which the soul exists. – The union of likeness, also called transforming or mystical union, is that by which the soul becomes like God. – God is darkness to the soul in that the divine is essentially other than the human. – Since the means

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Saint Bonaventure

Ideas – Traditional Christian doctrines are correct, and innovations are erroneous. – The wish to introduce new doctrines is the expression of a bad moral character, and so is curiosity (the wish to find things out independently of their relevance to salvation). – People need discipline not only of their conduct but also of

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Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Ideas – There is a natural simplicity in the very substance of the soul; for the soul, it is the same to be as to live, but it is not the same thing to be as yo live well or to live happily; nevertheless the soul can ascend to this. – For God, to

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Crowding hypothesis

Occupations with few or no barriers to entry become crowded, thereby depressing wage levels. Some sectors dominated by women or immigrants display the phenomenon. English economist John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) and Irish-born economist Francis Edgeworth (1845-1926) both used this model of discrimination in their economic analyses. Also see: dual labor market theory, labor force participation, occupation segregation, segmented labor market theory Source:

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Crowding out (1970S)

The displacement of private spending by government expenditure financed by borrowing. When a government borrows heavily, interest rates may be forced to rise, thereby curbing individual consumption. Source: B M Friedman, ‘Crowding out or Crowding in? Economic Consequences of Financing Government Deficits’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, vol. ix (1978), 593-641 History The idea

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Currency principle (MID-19TH CENTURY)

Currency principle is concerned with the metallist belief that the money supply or currency in circulation should be strictly related to the amount of gold deposited with the Bank of England. If this money supply were controlled, monetary stability would follow. The Bank Acts of 1844 and 1845 embodied currency principle and helped establish

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Customs union theory (18TH CENTURY)

A customs union is a grouping of countries with a common external tariff, but with free trade, free movement of labor and capital among themselves. Customs union theory examines the impact on trade in general following the removal of barriers (such as quotas and tariffs) between the countries and their establishment against other countries.

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Cyclical theory

Theory of large scale historical or political change. Events, economies, and political systems move through cycles similar to the natural life-cycles of living beings. These cycles can be observed, but there is no obvious explanation for them. The most familiar Cyclical theoryversion is Spengler’s decline of the west. Huntington’s periods of creedal passion Historian Samuel P.

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Daniel Bernoulli

Daniel Bernoulli was the son of Johann Bernoulli. He was born in Groningen while his father held the chair of mathematics there. His older brother was Nicolaus (II) Bernoulli and his uncle was Jacob Bernoulli so he was born into a family of leading mathematicians but also into a family where there was unfortunate

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David Ricardo

The brilliant British economist David Ricardo was one the most important figures in the development of economic theory. He articulated and rigorously formulated the ‘classical’ system of political economy. The legacy of Ricardo dominated economic thinking throughout the 19th Century. David Ricardo’s family was descended from Iberian Jews who had fled to Holland during

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Decision Theory

Decision theory (or the theory of choice not to be confused with choice theory) is the study of an agent’s choices. Decision theory can be broken into two branches: normative one, which analyzes the outcomes of decisions or determines the optimal decisions given constraints and assumptions, and descriptive one, which analyzes how agents actually make the decisions they do. Normative decision theory

DeLorean theory (1990)

Theory of academic work described by English political scientist Rodney Barker (1942- ). Academic and artistic activities are measured according to the amount of funding they attract, rather than by the quality or quantity of their output. Named after the unsuccessful motor car manufacturer JOHN DeLOREAN (1925- ), who attracted large amounts of money for his

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Demand for money theory (20TH CENTURY)

Also known as liquidity preference, demand for money theory deals with the desire to hold money rather than other forms of wealth (for example stocks and shares). It is particularly associated with the work of English economist John Maynard Keynes (1882-1946). Keynes distinguished three motives for holding money: the transaction motive (to meet day-to-day needs); the speculative

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