Four Senses of “Meaning” in the History of Ideas

Abstract

At least four senses of “meaning” need to be kept distinct when describing the proper way to discuss the history of ideas. The first sense, communicative meaning, relies on the communicative intentions of the author and is very close to H. P. Grice’s “nonnatural meaning.” The second sense, meaning as significance or importance, is close to Grice’s “natural meaning,” and the author focuses on a type that depends on human interests; in this sense, meaning is always relative to a person or group and changes as the events or the interests of the person or group change. The author shows that Quentin Skinner in his classic article, “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas,” confuses these senses. While historians of ideas often focus on identifying communicative meaning, what historians care most about is the significance or importance that something had or has for people in the past or present.