Semantics, conceptual role
Abstract
According to conceptual role semantics (CRS), the meaning of a representation is the role of that representation in the cognitive life of the agent, for example, in perception, thought and decision-making. It is an extension of the well-known ‘use’ theory of meaning, according to which the meaning of a word is its use in communication and, more generally, in social interaction. CRS supplements external use by including the role of a symbol inside a computer or a brain. The uses appealed to are not just actual, but also counterfactual: not only what effects a thought does have, but what effects it would have had if stimuli or other states had differed. Of course, so defined, the functional role of a thought includes all sorts of causes and effects that are non-semantic, for example, perhaps happy thoughts can bolster one’s immunity, promoting good health. Conceptual roles are functional roles minus such non-semantic causes and effects. The view has arisen separately in philosophy (where it is sometimes called ‘inferential’ or ‘functional’ role semantics) and in cognitive science (where it is sometimes called ‘procedural semantics’).
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Under CRS, the meaning of a symbol is derived mostly or entirely from its relation to other symbols, i.e. its role in the thoughts and inferences in which it participates.
“Under this account, the meaning of a symbol is derived (mostly or entirely) from its relation to other symbols, i.e. its role in the thoughts and inferences in which it participates.”
From Symbols and grounding in large language models (2023) · cites this paper as [79]
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- Authors
- Block, N.
- Corresponding author
- Block, Ned
- ORCID
- Block, Ned
- Venue
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2018-09-11
- OpenAlex
- W52117665
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
- Type
- reference entry
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- CogPrints (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Keywords
- conceptual role semantics, use theory of meaning, inferential semantics, procedural semantics, functional roles
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