Searle's Intentions: Meaning vs. Communication

Searle's Distinction: Meaning and Communication Intentions

Searle argues for a crucial difference between the intention of communicating meaning and the intention of meaning itself. This distinction is key to understanding his critique of traditional theories of meaning.

The Intention of Meaning

The intention of meaning, according to Searle, is the need to assign a reference to a signifier. This intention can be approached in two ways:

• Descriptivist Theories: These theories, focused on the descriptive content of an element, struggle with the problem of identity. The descriptive content can often overflow the element itself, making it difficult to establish a clear identity.
• Referentialist Theories: These theories, also known as traditional theories, propose a nominalistic approach to meaning. They are limited by their strictly formal sense, often lacking substantial content. They also face the problem of identity, linking it to a formal criterion (A=B), which remains unresolved.

The Intention of Communicating Meaning

Neither approach fully resolves the problem of identity. Searle introduces the distinction between the intention of meaning and the intention of communicating meaning to address this. He argues that successful communication requires a link between signifier and meaning. This link presupposes the resolution of the problem of identity. Searle posits that this resolution is possible through the uses of language in communication.

Searle aims to overcome the limitations of traditional theories by highlighting this distinction. The core limitation of these theories is their inability to establish a clear link between meaning and its content.

Language Use and Meaning

Searle argues that the problem of the nexus between meaning and content cannot be resolved until we intend to communicate. When we communicate, we are not forced into unrealistic language. It is this use of language that shapes meaning. Meaning is not just in the description or the reference, but in the practical application of language. Searle adopts this paradigm of distinction from the later Wittgenstein.