Meaning

From Geography

Meaning (derived from Husserl's phenomenological Sinn, sense) is a term used by various philosophers and philosophical streams to define why and in what way their notions make sense. This is defined by Max Weber as 'Sinn'.

Language pragmatics

'Language' or communication replaced 'thought' as the most important medium of meaning (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1360). Communication primariy creates meaning, through interaction. Antony Giddens and Benno Werlen see this slightly different. They see communication not as the structure of meaning, but language is used to transport meaning whitin an interaction, but not to give meaning (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1362).

Nikas Luhmann

Whitin Luhmann's notion of meaning, the core is the notion of distinction-form (Arnoldi, 2001, p.4). Luhmann wanted to combine meaning with 'self reference', or 'autopoiesis'. Through a distinction of 'inside or outside', or 'this or the other', form, or meaning is created. As Arnoldi states it: "The distinction is meaning-constituting because it contains its own (self-reference) outside" (Arnoldi, 2001, p.5).

References

Arnoldi, J. (2001) Nikas Luhmann an introduction. Theory, Culture & Society, 18, 1-13

Zierhofer, W. (2002) Speech acts and space(s): language pragmatics and the discursive constitution of the social. Environment and Planning A, 34, 1355-1372

--AnneStrien 11:13, 24 September 2012 (CEST)