Re: [Fwd: consensus and ownership]

Graham Klyne wrote:
> 
> This idea of meaning being based in consensus also appears in the work 
> by Quine that I mentioned the other week [1].
> 
> A possible difference in position would be that you talk about the 
> meaning of a URI, where Quine's analysis suggest that it's not the 
> individual terms but complete statements that have meaning.  (I think 
> that's a point that Pat has been trying to press, too.)
> 

I think that individual terms _do_ have meaning for people.  For 
example, the word "gravity" certainly has meaning for me.  It may well 
be that my sense of its meaning comes mainly from a large collection of 
statments that I have heard or uttered in the past - along with personal 
experience - but nevertheless the term itself carries meaning for me.

Cheers,

Tom P