ABSTRACT

The problem of the operational origin of the intension of symbols is precisely the same as that of the operational origin of correlational symbols. Correlational symbols reveal the fact of structural relations; they reveal directly the fact of structural relations between symbols and indirectly the fact of structural relations between occurrents. One must make a distinction between the symbol which describes the relation between the occurrents, and the symbolic relation between the symbols describing the respective occurrents. The symbols are diverse from one another, and the diversity is indicative of diversity in referents. There can be no strict synonyms in a symbolic system; for if the symbols have different linguistic representations, and the linguistic representations are uniquely associated with the meanings, then there must be qualitative diversity in the referents. Much more significant in the determination of the structural relations of symbols are those which are based on the existence of associative and dissociative complexes of occurrents.