HOW TO ASSESS THEORIES OF MEANING? SOME NOTES ON THE METHODOLOGY OF SEMANTICS

The paper presents a two-level approach to an assessment of meaning theories. To begin with, language is distinguished from language-model and, analogously, meaning is discerned from a model of meaning. The first level of a theory assessment is presented as dealing with the relation of a model of meaning to intra-theoretical aims and assumptions of a theory with specific language-model. The second level of assessment concerns ontological, epistemological, logical and other assumptions underlying the respective language-model. Finally, several questions are set forth as methodological directives for elucidating hidden assumptions behind the theories of meaning.