ABSTRACT
Man is essentially a talking animal. The use of language is one of his most distinctive forms of behaviour. Especially is it pointed out by Ogden and Richards that among the philosophers the term 'meaning' cannot be adequately handled, while among medical men words prove exceedingly deep pitfalls. In general, they hold two irreconcilable positions, each of which they unwittingly use apparently to offset objections to the other. In the first place, they have the abstract symbolism conception which apparently is traceable to the influence of Moore, Russell, Husserl, and other realists. The actual development of this second view is presented in a supplementary essay by Dr Malinowski. Here we have a very excellent description of the functional character of language among some simpler human communities. Ogden and Richards study the terms 'beauty' and 'meaning' and discover on the basis of their defining relations few definitions of each.
