(DOWNLOAD) "Meaning, Meanings, And Epistemology in C. S. Lewis (Critical Essay)" by Mythlore * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Meaning, Meanings, And Epistemology in C. S. Lewis (Critical Essay)
- Author : Mythlore
- Release Date : January 22, 2007
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 219 KB
Description
AN obscure film (perhaps a Fellini or a David Lynch), a bizarre piece of modern art, or a complex poem frequently evoke from my students the question, "What does it mean?"--and they take for granted that they know exactly what they are asking. That they should not be so certain of the question would become apparent after a moment of reflection if they would step one question back and ask, "What does meaning mean?" Asking the meaning of meaning is a quandary because the very question presupposes a knowledge of the answer. Webster's Dictionary suggests three common uses of the term: "intention" (as when we ask what a person meant by a certain remark), "signification" (as when we ask the meaning of a word or a poem), and "importance" (as when we say that a momentous life event was a "meaningful" one). When C.S. Lewis wrote about meaning, it was usually in reference to signification, and in one of two ways. The theme that dominates Lewis's writing about meaning is an epistemological one: Lewis believed that the relationship between sign and signified was much broader than the cognitive act of assigning abstract symbols to ideas and experiences. Whenever we ask what something means, we are almost always looking for a response in words; that is, we have come to believe (or at least practice) the concept that meaning consists of ideas that can be expressed in propositional language statements. Lewis understood that the meaning of meaning is much larger, preceding abstraction, reason, and even language, and his understanding has implications, not only to a proper understanding of the nature of meaning, but also to our understanding of myth, truth, allegory, metaphor, epistemology, and even the nature of heaven. The minor theme in Lewis's writing on meaning involves his interest in the critical question of the correct interpretation of literary texts (in this theme, Lewis is concerned with both "signification" and "intention"). Where in his major theme Lewis is concerned with the epistemology of meaning, in his minor theme he is concerned with meanings in texts. The Major Theme: Meaning and Knowing
 "Meaning, Meanings, And Epistemology in C. S. Lewis (Critical Essay)" by Mythlore * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}