An Investigation Of The Validity Problem Of Semantic Intuitions

The general language ability of mankind is the basis of our ability to express ourselves,to understand others,and to communicate with the outside world.When we try to explain how such a general ability is possible,we often appeal to some sort of universal or a priori elements.And regarding language issues,we tend to appeal to the concept of language intuition.Especially when considering the semantic intuition problem,whether it is generally effective? How is this ability itself possible? Does it have a certain fundamental limit? The validity of “semantic intuitions” investigated in this paper is a Kantian transcendental question: mankind,as the rational subject of cognition,has certain seemingly self-evident,intuitive and reliable grasps of the meaning and referents of natural language.How is this possible? And what are its limits?The solution to this question is very vital for the reinterpretation and solution of many debates in contemporary philosophical research.Such as the controversy between realism and anti-realism in philosophy of science,the internalism and externalism debate in philosophy of mind about the structure of consciousness,and the controversy over truth theory,as well as in various forms of experimental philosophical research.This paper focuses on the validity of semantic intuition,and explores its origin,its the main solutions and the possible directions of advancement.Especially based on the analysis of Quine' s ideas,we attempt to provide a preliminary solution to this problem.Horizontally,this paper develops along two dimensions: meaning theories of analytic tradition and intentionality problem of phenomenology tradition;Diachronically,the research of this paper will mainly focus on the early 20 th century(Frege,Husserl,later Wittgenstein,etc.)and the mid-20 th century philosophy(Quine,etc.).The first chapter introduces the basics of thee validity problem of semantic intuitions,the general situation of contemporary researches,the approaches andinnovations of this paper.The second chapter analyzes the early stages of analytic philosophy in detail,taking Frege and later Wittgenstein's ideas as examples.In Chapter 3,I attempt to analyze the research of intentionality under the phenomenology tradition to clarify the possible answers to the validity problem of semantic intuitions.The fourth chapter,in the framework of behavioristic semantics and taking Quine's holism and naturalism as background,attempts to sketch and demonstrate a new approach to solve the validity problem.The fifth chapter is the summary and conclusion of the whole paper.