Handbook of the History of Logic: - Fordham University Faculty

Logic and Theories of Meaning . . . 349
PART I: THEORIES OF MEANING
Names, concepts and things: the semantic triangle
The question ’what does a word signify?’ has puzzled philosophers throughout the
ages. It had been a subject of discussion in the Latin west ever since Boethius
gave his interpretation of the famous passage of Peri hermeneias chapter 1, where
Aristotle gives his view on the relation between language, thought and reality, or
so it seems:
Now spoken sounds are symbols of affections in the soul, and written
marks symbols of spoken sounds. And just as written marks are not
the same for all men, neither are spoken sounds. But what these are
in the first place signs of – affections of the soul – are the same for all;
and what these affections are likenesses of – actual things – are also
the same. 6
Thus, Aristotle sees written words as signs of spoken words and spoken words as
signs of ‘affections of the soul’. These affections or passions of the soul are the
same for every human being, because they are likenesses of extra-mental things,
which are also the same for everybody. This passage of Aristotle’s has been the
subject of numerous commentaries, ancient as well as modern, and may well be
considered as one of the basic texts in the history of semantics.
Boethius’ first important remark concerns the interpretation of the term ‘affections
of the soul’. 7 Boethius makes it very clear that what Aristotle meant by
an ‘affection of the soul’ is a concept or understanding (intellectus) 8 . The relations
between word (vox), thing (res) and concept (intellectus) are formulated as
follows: the thing is conceived by the intellectus, the spoken word signifies the conceptions
of the soul. 9 Thus the relation between concept and thing is a relation of
conceiving, whereas the relation between spoken word and concept is characterized
with the term ‘signify’ (significare or elsewhere: designare). The concept seems to
be the only thing that is signified, 10 although this exclusive position of the concept
is moderated by the statement that the intellectus is the primary significate of the
noun, the thing (res) being the secondary significate. The relationships between
word, thought and object, according to Boethius, can be visualized in a triangle,
the so-called semantic triangle:
6 Aristotle, Peri hermeneias, 16a3-8. Transl. Ackrill, in [Ackrill, 1963, p. 43].
7 Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii Commentarii in librum Aristotelis Peri Hermeneias, rec. C.
Meiser, pars posterior, secunda editio [Leipzig, 1880].
8 Boethius, op.cit., p. 12, line 28. Intellectus is an ambiguous term, like the German term
’Begriff’ or the Dutch ’begrip’. It signifies the act of conceiving as well as the product of that
act. 9Boethius, op.cit., p. 20, lines 17-20.
10 Boethius, op.cit. p. 21, lines 4-5.